KAS officer says ACB men pressured him to name Yeddyurappa

 KAS officer H Basavarajendra, one of the accused in the Shivaram Karanth Layout land denotification case along with former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, approached chief secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia on Saturday, with a complaint, alleging “pressure” from ACB officials.

In his complaint, Basavarajendra said ACB deputy superintendents of police Balaraj and J K Anthony John pressured him to give a statement against Yeddyurappa. “Since I refused to heed the illegal demands made by them, I have come to know on enquiry that I have been arrayed as accused number 2 (sic),” he said.

Basavarajendra, who is presently working as deputy secretary (mines investigation cell and sugar), was the Special Land Acquisition Officer in the Bangalore Development Authority from July 2010 to September 2011, during which time land was acquired for the layout.

According to Basavarajendra, he met Balaraj and John at the ACB office on August 10 in connection with the case they were investigating. Balaraj started dictating a statement to the typist that the alleged denotification had been done by Yeddyurappa. Basavarajendra intervened and said that he did not know anything about that. “Balaraj and John stated that either I should agree with the statement or I should become an accused. Balaraj also said that as I’m due for promotion to IAS, I should agree,” Basavarajendra said in his complaint.