Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka were pushed on the backfoot on Monday after a forensics science laboratory (FSL) report confirmed that the two voices heard in a taped conversation from February were indeed that of two senior party leaders allegedly discussing payment of money to its central leadership.
The FSL report confirmed that the voice samples matched union minister Ananth Kumar and state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa, who were allegedly discussing payments made to its central leadership from 2008-13.
The issue had blunted the state BJP’s efforts to corner Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah’s alleged role in bankrolling its party high command with kickbacks from big ticket projects like the proposed—now scrapped—Rs1,791 crore steel flyover project in Bengaluru.
In February this year, Kumar and Yeddyurappa were overheard discussing payments made by Siddaramaiah to the Congress high command which was allegedly discovered through a diary that was seized by the income tax department when it conducted raids on K. Govindaraj, member of legislative council and close aide of the chief minister, early last year. In the same conversation, it was also alleged that Kumar and Yeddyurappa discussed payments made by the BJP government to its central leadership during its tenure from 2008-13.
“We are saying it is doctored,” Kumar said on Monday in Bengaluru. Kumar on Monday said that the conversation should be put forth in full and not in parts as it does not give the context of their conversation.
Kumar said that Siddaramaiah was misusing the Anti Corruption Bureau—an investigating agency that comes under the chief minister’s office—to target Yeddyurappa and other political opponents. Ironically, the Congress high command has made similar allegations against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the centre.
Cases were filed against the two BJP leaders under various sections in the cyber crime police department. M.N. Reddi, ACB chief on Monday confirmed that the case remains with the cyber crime police and not yet forwarded to the ACB.
Kumar said that agencies like FSL were fast tracking investigations against any voices of dissent against Siddaramaiah but were slacking in other important cases like the suicide of deputy superintendent of police M.K. Ganapathy and former senior police official Anupama Shenoy’s resignation among others.
In August, two complaints were filed against Yeddyurappa for allegedly causing a loss of Rs3,800 crore to the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) in a land denotification case dating back to 2008-11.