Fresh trouble for Yediyurappa, son? Karnataka cabinet asks Governor to have BJP veteran probed in BDA graft case

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday asked Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to sanction the investigation of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa in a corruption case in which his son and BJP state president BY Vijayendra is also accused.

The case pertains to the allegation that Ramalingam Construction Company Ltd paid a bribe of Rs 12 crore to start work on a housing project of the BDA.

This is based on a November 2020 complaint to the erstwhile Anti-Corruption Bureau by activist TJ Abraham.

It so happens that Abraham is one of the complainants in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment scam in which Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is being investigated after Gehlot gave his sanction.

In Yediyurappa’s case, Abraham had sought the then Governor Vajubhai Vala’s sanction to have the CM investigated under the Prevention of Corruption Act. On June 24, 2021, days before he demitted office, Vala rejected Abraham’s request for sanction to have Yediyurappa probed.

“The allegations are quite serious. The Cabinet advised the Governor to reconsider his decision on sanction for investigation,” Law & Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil said.

Yediyurappa is now neither an MLA nor the chief minister. “But the decision that he took was as the CM. When the act is done as the CM, permission of the Governor becomes necessary,” Patil said.

Following Vala’s rejection, a special court for cases against elected representatives rejected Abraham’s complaint in July 2021. Abraham then moved the High Court. In September 2022, the High Court allowed his petition and asked the special court to resume hearing the case. Then, the special court directed the Lokayukta to investigate Yediyurappa and others accused in the case.

Yediyurappa has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision. The matter is coming up on November 29.

According to a note placed in the Cabinet, the investigation officer has obtained the required sanction to investigate retired IAS officer GC Prakash, the accused number 5 who was BDA commissioner when the alleged bribery took place.

“...while the investigation against other accused is ongoing, there will be no purpose served, if the principal accused is shielded...under the pretext of mechanical rejection by the Governor,” the Cabinet note stated.

The then Governor’s decision is “illegal...without due application of mind, a non-speaking order, and an act to frustrate investigation into serious allegations of corruption against Yediyurappa, his son, son-in-law and other associates, who were allegedly caught on audio recordings accepting/demanding huge sums of bribes,” the note stated.