A special court in Bengaluru has ordered registration of a case against former Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa in a land-related matter. This case pertains to the time when Yeddyurappa was the Deputy Chief Minister in the BJP-Janata Dal (S) coalition government in 2006-07. The special court set up to hear cases related to MP-MLA issued this order.
Special Court Judge B Jayanth Kumar has issued this order on the basis of a personal complaint by Vasudev Reddy. The order said that a special criminal case be registered against accused No. 2 i.e. BS Yediyurappa for the offense punishable under section 13(1)(d) r-w section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Vasudev Reddy had filed this petition in 2013. Yediyurappa is the second accused in this. The then Industries Minister RV Deshpande was accused number one in this case. But Yediyurappa is now the only accused in this case as the case against Deshpande was dismissed by the High Court in 2015.
According to the complainant, under the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Act, the state government had acquired 434 acres of land at Bellandur, Devarabeesanahalli, Kariyammana Agrahara and Amanibelandur Khana for setting up an Information Technology Park. The special court in its order said that there is a prima facie case against Yeddyurappa. The court said that only after filing the list of witnesses, issue summons to accused number two i.e. Yediyurappa.
Yeddyurappa, once a government clerk, had to resign from the post of Chief Minister in 2011 due to corruption. However, in 2016 he was acquitted by the special CBI court. He became CM again. But due to pressure from the BJP high command, he had to resign again. Now Basavaraj Bommai is the CM of Karnataka.