CBI opposes Yeddyurappa's plea in SC to quash case

The CBI has opposed before the Supreme Court a plea made by former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa for quashing of the case against him, involving denotification of land. It claimed that he had caused losses to the public exchequer to the tune of over Rs 900 crore and corresponding gain to JSW Steel Pvt Ltd.

In an affidavit, the investigating agency reiterated its charge that he had misused his official position.

Denying Yeddyurappa’s contention that the CBI did not look into the larger conspiracy, it said, “The CBI has registered several cases to probe illegal extraction of iron ore and its export and also the issues in this case - purchase of notified land, its denotification and sale at a huge price as quid pro quo for benefits to private parties.”

The CBI accused Yeddyurappa of denotifying land illegally purchased by his sons B Y Vijayendra, B Y Raghavendra and son-in-law R N Sohan Kumar.

Yeddyurappa denotified the land after taking charge as chief minister on May 30, 2008, by resorting to forgery and other illegal means and got undue benefits. He bypassed the denotification committee of the State government, it said.

The investigating agency rejected the BJP leader's plea that no prior sanction under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code was obtained for his prosecution.

‘No need for sanction’

It said that there was no need for any sanction as he had demitted office as chief minister on July 31, 2011 and the trial court had already taken cognisance of the charge sheet against him on November 16, 2012.

“The applicant is alleged to have committed the offence under Section 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 13(2) and 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The offence of criminal conspiracy does not fall under official duty,” the CBI said.

The SC had on May 11, 2012 ordered the CBI to investigate the matter after a Central Empowered Committee report showed serious illegalities in the denotification of land. The order had come on a petition filed by NGO Samaja Parivarthana Samudaya.