Karnataka court orders probe against Yediyurappa and others in bribery case

The court directed the Lokayukta police to register FIR against Yediyurappa, his son Vijayendra, minister S T Somashekar, among others

A special court for cases pertaining to the elected representatives on Wednesday directed the Lokayukta police to conduct investigation under section 156 (3) of CrPC in a case of bribery against former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and others.

The court directed the Lokayukta police to register FIR against Yediyurappa, his son Vijayendra, minister S T Somashekar, former Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) Commissioner G C Prakash, Yediyurappa's grandson Shashidhar Maradi, son-in-law Virupakshappa Yamakanmaradi, Sanjay Sree, son-in-law of Yediyurappa’s daughter Padmavathi, businessman Chandrakanth Ramalingam of Ramalingam Construction Company Pvt. Ltd and one K Ravi.

The complainant T J Abraham alleged that Ramalingam Construction Company Pvt. Ltd had paid Rs 12.50 crore bribe money through various persons to influence then Chief Minister Yediyurappa to release funds from the departments and to speed up the file clearances/movements in various departments where the company has dealings with. The complaint also stated that Rs 5.01 crore was transferred from seven shell companies located in Kolkata to the bank accounts of Belgravia Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., V S S Estates Pvt. Ltd., V S S Works Pvt. Ltd., of which BSY’s family members Shashidar Maradi and Sanjay Shree are the directors.

On July 8, 2021, the special court had dismissed the private complaint stating that investigation cannot be made without valid sanction under section 19 (1) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act. The Special Court also recorded that the request for sanction made by the complainant against Yediyurappa was turned down by the then Governor Vajubhai Vala on June 23, 2021.

The complainant Abraham had challenged the order of the Special Court. Restoring the private complaint, the High Court had said that request for sanction was not made either by the police/Investigation Agency or other law enforcement Authorities, nor pursuant to the order of the court as contemplated under First Proviso to section 19 of the P.C. Act. The court had also said that the rejection of sanction for prosecution against Yediyurappa would not come in the way of continuance of proceedings.