Mining scam: BS Yeddyurappa, sons appear before CBI court

Bangalore, Mar 23:

Janata Paksha (KJP) leader BS Yeddyurappa who has been charge-sheeted in the Rs 20,000 crore

scam appeared before a special

court here on Saturday.

The CBI has charged him with accepting kickbacks from some mining barons while he served as the 19th chief minister of the state. The agency noted that Yeddyurappa granted undue favours to the barons and looked the other way when they blatantly violated the rules.

As per the then Lokayukta Santosh Hegde's report, the nation and the state faced a loss of Rs 1827 crore due to illegal mining during Yeddyurappa's tenure.

After Hegde submitted the report in 2011, the man who led the first ever BJP government in south India was forced to resign. Yeddyurappa was later sent to jail.

His son-in-law RN Sohan Kumar and two of his sons - BY Raghavendra, a Lok Sabha member, and BY Vijayendra - were also named by the CBI in its charge-sheet that was filed on Oct 16, 2012.

Raghavendra, Vijayendra, Sohan Kumar and former state Housing minister M Krishnaiah Setty appeared before Principal Judge DA Venkat Sudarshan on Saturday.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled to take place on May 15.

The court had on Jan 29 directed all the 13 accused including the five aformentioned persons to appear before it. Though Yeddyurappa sought exemption from personal appearance, Special Public Prosecutor Sudarshan opposed his application in this regard.

The court had earlier granted bail to Yeddyurappa and the others on Dec 10. However, the court imposed certain conditions at that time. It asked each of the accused to furnish a personal bond of Rs 200,000 and a surety of like sum.

A private steel company is among six Bellary-based firms which, according to the CBI, benefited much from the mining scam. In addition, the agency has booked a Shimoga-based Trust run by Yeddyurappa's family members for corruption and abusing his official position.

OneIndia News