Lokayukta court summons Yeddyurappa on land-grabbing case

In the complaint,Basha has alleged that Yeddyurappa denotified 2.5 acres in Arakere village,1.7 acres in Devarachikkanahalli in Bangalore South taluk and 1.21 acres in Gedalahalli village in Bangalore East taluk violating rules.

The High Court had recently dismissed all the five petitions filed by Sohan Kumar,son-in-law of Yeddyurappa,praying for quashing of the lower court order taking cognisance of the offences made out against them,paving the way for the Lokayukta court to proceed on the complaint.

Basha and another advocate K N Balaraj had filed complaints with the court after Governor H R Bhardwaj accorded sanction for prosecution of Yeddyurappa when he was the chief minister.

Yeddyurappa quit recently as chief minister after the Lokayukta report indicted him on illegal mining.

Besides Yeddyurappa,the court issued summons to Akka Mahadevi,Mahabaleshwar,Satya Kumari,Mohan Raj,V Prakash,Kamakshamma,N Manjunath,V Anil Kumar,B Ramesh,Shantabai,Shantadevi,Ismail Sharief,B Manjunath and K Shivappa,who have been allegedly involved in the case.

The judge directed the court to register cases against the accused under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act,IPC and Karnataka Land Restriction and Transfer Act.

The court took cognisance of the offences made out against the accused under these sections. Dealing yet another blow to Yeddyurappa,the special court directed the Lokayukta Superintendent of Police to conduct a probe into receiving of Rs 10 crore donation by an educational trust run by the former chief minister’s family in Shimoga.

JD-S spokesman Y S V Datta in his complaint filed before the Lokayukta Court had alleged that South West Mining Company had paid the donation to the Prerana Education Society.

The court directed the Lokayukta police to submit a report on its investigations on September 3.