Devanahalli land case back to haunt BSY

BENGALURU: In yet another setback to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, the Karnataka High Court restored a corruption case against him before the trial court, in relation to allotment of land to an industrialist by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board, and directed the trial court to proceed against him along with two other accused. Justice John Michael Cunha restored the private complaint filed by industrialist A Alam Pasha before the trial court against Yediyurappa, former Minister for Heavy Industries Murugesh R Nirani and former Managing Director, Karnataka Udyog Mitra, KS Shivaswamy.

He cited grounds that sanction for prosecution was not necessary as per a Supreme Court verdict, as they had demitted office which they were holding on the date of commission of the alleged offences. However, Justice Cunha confirmed rejection of t h e c omp l a i n t against former Principal Secretary VP Baligar by the trial court on August 26, 2016. Pasha had filed a petition in 2016 before the high court, seeking to quash the August 26, 2016 order and restore the private complaint filed by him in 2014.

Pasha had alleged that Nirani, Yediyurappa, Baligar and Shivaswamy entered into a criminal conspiracy and forged documents purported to have been issued by him, seeking to withdraw approval granted by the High Level Clearance Committee for allotment of 26 acres of land to him at Devanahalli Industrial Area in Bengaluru Rural district. This is the third setback to Yediyurappa in just a fortnight.

On December 22, 2020, the high court dismissed his plea against a probe into illegal denotification of land in Whitefield. On January 5, 2021, his petition questioning denotification of land in RT Nagar in the city was dismissed with cost of Rs 25,000, saying investigation cannot be stalled.

Action against complainant

Rejecting a memo filed by Jayakumar Hiremath seeking to withdraw his petition in relation to denotification of land at Matadahalli by Yediyurappa, Justice Cunha observed that one can readily drawn an inference that Hiremath has either fallen prey to allurements or yielded to pressure by Yediyurappa or other accused. Hence, the investigating agency or trial court should take note of unscrupulous, immoral and unholy nexus between Yediyurappa and Hiremath and other offenders, and take suitable action as per law, Justice Cunha ordered.

Assets case against MP PC Mohan

Modifying the order dated November 8, 2019, passed by the Special Court, Justice Cunha directed the Special Court to take cognisance of alleged offences and proceed against BJP MP PC Mohan in relation to false declaration of assets made before the Returning Officer, for contesting the parliamentary election in 2014. Noting that as on date of filing of Form 26, Mohan was holding assets to the tune of Rs 25.24 crore as partner of PC Realty, but furnished details of investment as Rs 14.65 crore, Justice Cunha said there is prima facie material to proceed against him for concealment and suppression of material facts. “I do not find any justifiable ground to quash proceedings,” he said.