Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa will have to appear before the Special Court of the Central Bureau of Investigation in Bangalore on December 12, three days after the scheduled launch of his Karnataka Janata Party.
The Court on Wednesday issued summons to Yeddyurappa, three of his family members and others in connection with a mining kickback case.
The CBI on October 16 filed a charge sheet in the Court against Yeddyurappa, his sons B
Y Vijayendra and B Y Raghavendra, son-in-law R N Sohan Kumar, among others. The charge sheet also names former Muzrai minister Krishnaiah Setty, JSW Steels, its CEO Vinod Nowal, senior Vice-President Vikash Sharma and Sajjan Jindal, among others. Prerana Trust, run by BSY’s kin and five Bellary-based private companies also figure in the charge sheet.
The charge sheet, which lists 167 witnesses, has booked the accused under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with Sections 109 (abetment), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 471 (forging documents) of IPC; Sections 7, 9, 11, 12, 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.
The CBI had said its investigation revealed that the accused hatched a criminal conspiracy during 2006–2010 and accordingly, the sons and son-in-law of Yeddyurappa purchased land measuring 1.12 acre in Rachenahalli for Rs 40 lakh, in violation of laws. The State government had notified the land for the formation of Arkavathy Layout and Yeddyurappa allegedly denotified it misusing his official position.
The land was, in turn, sold for an exorbitant sum of Rs 20 crore to South West Mining Company while the guidance value of the land was Rs 1.5 crore. The firm, through its sister companies, allegedly paid Rs 20 crore as donation to the Trust run by the kin of Yeddyurappa.
“...Investigation has also revealed that the said amount of 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 for 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 had said.
