The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed a charge sheet against former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, his sons B Y Vijayendra and B Y Raghavendra and son-in-law Sohan Kumar, for allegedly granting undue favours to steel firms, causing a loss of Rs 890 crore to the exchequer.
The CBI has said that the favours, allegedly abusing Yeddyurappa’s official powers, were granted in return for donations to an NGO, Prerana Charitable Trust, run by his relatives.
The charge sheet, which has about 5,000 documents and 167 witnesses, contains charges under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with Sections 109 (abetment), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 471 (forging documents) of the IPC; Sections 7, 9, 11, 12 and 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 9 read with Section 4 of the Karnataka Land (Restriction on Transfer) Act, a source said.
The CBI had registered a criminal case against BSY, his kin and others following directions given by the Supreme Court on May 11, 2012.
Filed in the court of the Special Judge for CBI cases, the charge sheet also names former Muzrai minister Krishnaiah Setty, JSW Steels, its CEO Vinod Nowal, senior vice-president Vikash Sharma and promoter Sajjan Jindal among others.
Prerana Trust, run by BSY’s kin and Jai Bharath Technical Private Limited, Industrial Techno Manpower Services Limited and Real Technical Solutions Private Limited, have also been named in the charge sheet.
Criminal conspiracy
“During investigation it was revealed that the accused persons allegedly hatched a criminal conspiracy during 2006–2010 and pursuant to the said conspiracy, the two sons and a son-in-law of Yeddyurappa purchased land for Rs 40 lakh which was notified for acquisition by the State by violating various laws,” the CBI said. The land in question,, measuring about 1.12 acre was notified by the State government in Rachenahalli for the formation of Arkavathy Layout. The land was then de-notified from acquisition by Yeddyurappa, by allegedly abusing his official position in violation of various rules.
Further, it was sold at an exorbitant rate of Rs 20 crore to South West Mining Company even though the guidance value of the land was Rs 1.5 crore. And the firm, through its sister companies, allegedly paid a sum of Rs 20 crore as a donation to the Trust run by the kin of Yeddyurappa.
“Investigation has also revealed that the Rs 20 crore was allegedly a cover-up to the illegal gratification received from the Bellary-based private company (South West Mining) as a quid pro quo for not insisting on the recovery of Rs 890 crore from the same company, which is the loss caused to a Government of Karnataka PSU by a joint venture with the same private steel company,” the agency has said.
The CBI on May 16 searched the premises of Yeddyurappa, members of his family, Prerana Education Trust run by them and two mining companies in Bangalore, Shimoga and Bellary. Following the raids, the CBI had said in an official note that it had obtained “incriminating documents, including those related to donations made to Prerana Trust in crores.”
In Bangalore, the CBI teams had raided the residence of Yeddyurappa on Race Course Road, Prerana Chambers—Prerana Educational Trust, Dhavalagiri Properties and Bhagat Homes, Dollars Colony house—‘Dhavalagiri home’, son-in-law Sohan Kumar’s residence at RPC Layout, other offices of Prerana Chambers and Dhavalgiri Developers jointly owned by B Y Raghavendra, B Y Vijayendra and Sohan and the residence of Malur MLA Krishnaiah Shetty at Rajajinagar Block VI.
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