BENGALURU: B S Yeddyurappa was Deputy Chief Minister between February 17, 2006 and February 6, 2007 and Chief Minister from May 30, 2008 to July 31, 2011. He was also in-charge of Urban Development, Forest and Finance departments.
During this time, Es En Krishnaiah Shetty was functioning as Minister of Mujarai and Housing. It is alleged that Shetty along with Yeddyurappa, his sons B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra, — and his son-in-law Sohan Kumar allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the State Government by favouring JSW Steels Limited.
In pursuance of this, Yeddyurappa allegedly denotified land measuring 1.12 acres (Sy.No.55/2) at Rachenahalli village, Bengaluru East taluk, in favour of Krishnaiah Shetty, acquired for Arkavathy Layout in 2004.
Later, it was fraudulently purchased by Vijayendra, Raghavendra, Sohan Kumar from Krishnaiah Shetty. Later, the agricultural land was converted into non-agriculture and the same was sold to South West Mining Limited for an exorbitant price.
After this, JSW Steels Limited paid Rs 40 crore as donation to Prerana Educational and Social Trust, run by Vijayendra, Raghavendra and others, through through M/s South West Mining Ltd, M/s Real Technical Solutions Pvt Ltd, M/s Jaibharath Technical Services Pvt. Ltd, and M/s Industrial Techno Manpower Supply & Services Pvt. Ltd, allegedly as a quid-pro-quo for the favours shown by Yeddyurappa to M/s JSW Steels Ltd, in various decisions taken by him in his capacity as a public servant.
Vijayendra and Sohan Kumar were accused of submitting a forged ‘NoC’ issued by BDA, to register the denotified land for Rs 20 lakh, after Krishnaiah Setty purchased it from one Gowramma for Rs 12.35 lakh.
What went wrong is a big question: Hiremath
Bengaluru: Social activist and founder of Samaja Parivarthana Samudaya S R Hiremath told Express, “It is an iron-clad case. How the judge gave this judgement is beyond my comprehension.”
“What has gone wrong is a million dollar question,” said Hiremath, who was among the first whistle-blowers, detailing the challenges before a chargesheet was filed.
‘Denotification in 2004’
The counsel for the accused denied allegations that Yeddyurappa denotified the land, saying the land was denotified as per an order dated May 17, 2004.
Who are the accused?
Apart from Yeddyurappa and his kin, the accused include Prerana Educational and Social Trust, Es En Krishnaiah Shetty, ex-minister, South West Mining Ltd, JSW Steel Ltd, Ballari, Vinod Nowal of JSW Steels, Vikash Sharma of JSW Steel Ltd, Real Technical Solution Pvt Ltd, Jai Bharat Technical Services Pvt Ltd, Ballari, Industrial Supply and Services Pvt Ltd.