M A I N   N E W S

Immoral or illegal? Court will decide on Yeddyurappa’s role
Petition claims the Karnataka CM favoured his son & son-in-law in land deal
Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS

Bangalore, February 3
A parallel courtroom drama unfolds in Bangalore tomorrow when a city civil court takes up the petition filed by the Karnataka Chief Minister’s son-in-law Sohan Kumar, seeking a stay on the prosecution of CM BS Yeddyurappa and others.

THE ‘SHADY’ BUY A little over one acre of land was purchased in Bangalore  by Yeddyurappa’s son and son-in-law in 2006 for Rs 40 lakh The two plots formed a part of land which had been notified for acquisition by the Bangalore Development Authority. But the CM first ‘denotified’ and released the plots and thereafter allowed the change in land-use from agriculture to residential purposes In November 2010, the plots were sold for Rs 20 crore

The hearing will test the BJP’s stand that there is no prima facie case against the CM and the BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s statement that what Yeddyurappa did was “immoral” but not “illegal”.

The Chief Minister is accused of misusing his office to benefit his family members, including his sons and son-in-law. The petition, filed by a lawyer Srirajin Basha, cites as many as 15 instances and backs them with copies of government notifications and official notings.

One of the more glaring cases involves a little over an acre of land in Bangalore, which was purchased by the CM’s son and son-in-law in 2006 for Rs 40 lakh and sold in 2010 for the sum of Rs 20 crore. The catch was that the two adjacent plots formed a part of land which had been notified for acquisition by the Bangalore Development Authority. But the Chief Minister himself first ‘denotified’ and released the plots and thereafter, allowed the change in land-use from agriculture to residential purposes. In November 2010, the plots were sold by the CM’s son and son-in-law for Rs 20 crore, says the petition.

Documents attached to the petition show that then MLA Krishnaiah Shetty, who later became a minister in the government headed by Yeddyurappa but was removed following charges of corruption, obtained a ‘Power of Attorney’ for the two plots from the owners in 2003. Three years later, he sold the plots to Yeddyurappa’s son and son-in-law.

Interestingly, the original owners applied for denotification of the land in 2008, suppressing the fact of the sale. An official attached to the Chief Minister then asked for the file to be put up before the Chief Minister. Yeddyurappa then approved de-notification of the plots bypassing the committee constituted for this purpose.

Yeddyurappa’s son and son-in-law then came into the picture again and sought change of land use (from agricultural to residential). This was sanctioned in February 2009, within 10 days of receiving the request. In November 2010, the land was sold to South West Mining Ltd for Rs 20 crore.

Basha has accused the CM and his family members of committing offence under various sections of the IPC, including 415, 420 and 471 and attracting actions under the provisions of Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.