JOIN USThe country’s top investigating agency on Friday told the CBI special court that it may need to take former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, his sons and son-in-law into custody, in order to question them.
In its objections to the anticipatory bail applications filed by Yeddyurappa, B Y Raghavendra, B Y Vijayendra and Sohan Kumar, the CBI opposed the applications on the ground that granting bail may impede the inquiry.
Judge Venkat Sudarshan directed Yeddyurappa’s counsel to file objections and adjourned the hearing of the bail applications till May 29.
The CBI counsel said that the agency may require to summon witnesses who had worked under Yeddyurappa as it needed to obtain certain information from them. So, it was necessary to take the witnesses also into custody.
Pointing out that Yeddyurappa, a former chief minister till recently, was still an influential person, the agency said there was reasonable apprehension that he may tamper with proof if he was granted anticipatory bail.
The CBI, while informing the court that the ongoing probe was in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court, moved an application seeking orders that all the accused be present before the court during the hearings.
The Supreme Court, based on the CEC report, had ordered on May 11 a CBI investigation into the donations received by a trust owned by Yeddyurappa’s family members from two mining companies #and the denotification and sale of a piece of land which had been acquired by the BDA for formation of a residential layout.
Raghavendra, Vijayendra and Sohan Kumar have been accused of securing denotification of 1.2 acres in Rachenahalli when Yeddyurappa was the chief minister for a meagre Rs 40 lakh and later selling the land to a mining firm for a whopping Rs 20 crore.
The mining firms have allegedly donated Rs 10 crore to a trust owned by Yeddyurappa’s family members.
Yeddyurappa, his sons and son-in-law have sought anticipatory bail fearing arrest by the CBI. The bail applications were filed on the same day that the CBI filed the FIR against them (May 16), following a raid on their houses.
Cases have been filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Karnataka Restriction of Land Transfer Act.