YEDDYURAPPA ARRESTED FOR CORRUPTION AND SENT TO JAIL

YEDDYURAPPA ARRESTED FOR CORRUPTION AND SENT TO JAIL

Former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa was jailed Saturday, 15th October, 2011, for corruption. Yeddyurappa, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) first chief minister in south India, surrendered before a trial court in two cases of corruption after his bail plea was rejected and the court ordered his arrest.He has been sent to jail till Oct 22.

Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa, 68, was taken to Bangalore's main jail at Prappana Agrahara in the eastern suburbs and will have the company of his former ministerial colleagues Katta Subramanaya Naidu and S.N. Krishnaiah Shetty. Yeddyurappa was taken into custody by the police afer he surrendered before Lokayukta special court judge N.K. Sudhindra Rao who earlier rejected his bail plea in two graft cases and issued an arrest warrant. Shetty was also arrested as his bail plea in the two cases was rejected.

Yeddyuappa was not present in the court when his bail plea was rejected. He had sent a medical certificate saying he was suffering from back pain and only later arrived to surrender. Shetty collapsed in the court hall and burst into tears as Rao rejected the bail plea and ordered his arrest. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Katta Subramanya Naidu was jailed Aug 8, along with his son Katta Jagadish, a Bangalore corporator, for taking a kickback of Rs.85 crore to allot 385 acres of land on Bangalore outskirts to a software firm. Yeddyurappa's another ministerial colleague mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy is also in jail - in Hyderabad - for illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh.

However Yeddyurappa's two sons -- BJP Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra and B.Y. Vijayendra -- and son-in-law R. Sohan Kumar were granted conditional bail. The three were also accused in the cases. Yeddyurappa is the first accused in two cases of illegal land denotification for monetary gains. The cases were filed by two Bangalore advocates Sirajin Bhasha and N.K. Balaraj in January this year after Governor H.R. Bhardwaj gave them sanction to launch criminal proceedings against Yeddyurappa and his kin for conspiring to denotify lands in and around Bangalore in return for monetary gains.Yeddyurappa quit July 31 after the then Lokayukta (ombudsman) N. Santosh Hegde recommended his trial for graft in illegal land mining scam.

Earlier, the Special Court judge N.K. Sudheendra Rao also directed the arrest of Mr. Yeddyurappa’s erstwhile cabinet colleague S.N. Krishnaiah Shetty, who started weeping initially, but later collapsed and had to be carried out of dock in the court hall. Mr. Yeddyurappa was not present in the court when the judge pronounced the order. His lawyers produced a medical certificate stating that he was suffering from a back ache and sought exemption from personal appearance. The Deputy Superintendent of Lokayukta police Prasanna Raju, who was handed over the arrest warrant against Mr. Yeddyurappa, left the court premises ostensibly to serve it on the former Chief Minister.

The cases against Mr. Yeddyurappa was filed by two advocates Sirajin Basha and N.K. Balaraj in January this year after Governor H.R. Bhardwaj gave them sanction to initiate criminal proceedings against the former Chief Minister and his kin for allegedly denotifying land in and around Bangalore illegally for monetary gains. While Mr. Yeddyurappa, who is accused number one in one of the cases (156/2011), was denied bail, the fourteen others including his sons Vijayendra and Raghavendra, besides son-in-law Sohan Kumar were granted bail. In another case, both Mr Yeddyurappa and Mr Krishnaiah Shetty, who are accused number one and six respectively, were denied bail while the others were granted bail. However, while granting bail to Mr. Yeddyurappa’s sons and son-in-law, the court imposed a special condition stipulating that they produce the documents of Davalagiri Property Developers and Bhagat Homes Pvt Limited from the day the operations started till the date of complaint within the next seven days.

The documents to be submitted by them should include the their personal bank account details, financial transactions during the last three years, balance sheets of their companies, financial transactions and bank accounts. If the details are not furnished within seven days as directed by the court, the bail will be cancelled. Meanwhile, Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda cancelled his other engagements including a trip to Mumbai and held confabulations with senior party and ministerial colleagues at his residence in Bangalore. Soon after news trickled about the issue of arrest warrant against Mr. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Gowda was held closed door meetings with State Government’s Special Representative in New Delhi Dhananjaya Kumar, Ministers Shobha Karandlaje, R. Ashok, V. Somanna, Lakshman Savadi, C.M. Udasi, C.C. Patil and Narayanaswamy. Later, Mr Gowda also held discussions with senior police officials including state intelligence chief Gopal Hosur and Commissioner of Bangalore City Police Jyothi Prakash Mirji. “The law and order situation in the City is peaceful”, Mr. Mirji told reporters after the meeting Yeddyurappa was not present in the Lokayukta special court when judge N.K. Sudhindra Rao pronounced his verdict. He sent a medical certificate saying he was suffering from back pain and sought exemption from personal appearance.

  However, the former Karnataka chief minister's two sons -- BJP Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra and B.Y. Vijayendra -- and son-in-law R. Sohan Kumar were granted conditional bail. The three were also accused in the cases. Rao rejected the bail plea of S.N. Krishnaiah Shetty, who was minister in the Yeddyurappa cabinet, and directed his arrest. Yeddyurappa is the first accused in two cases of illegal land denotification for monetary gains.The cases were filed by two Bangalore advocates Sirajin Bhasha and N.K. Balaraj in January this year after Governor H.R. Bhardwaj gave them sanction to launch criminal proceedings against Yeddyurappa and his kin for conspiring to identify lands in and around Bangalore in return for monetary gains.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday,15th October,2011, said the party will “legally” fight the cases involving former Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa, whose bail plea was rejected by a Lokayukta court in Karnataka, but maintained that it will stick to “zero tolerance against corruption”.The main opposition party also lashed out at Congress for its remarks on the issue, saying the latter had no moral right to comment on corruption as it itself was “neck-deep” into it.“We will certainly fight the issue legally, but BJP will adopt a zero tolerance towards corruption,” said party spokesman J. P. Nadda.On extending the party’s support to Mr. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Nadda said, “Legally we will be there, but at the same time, the party would have zero tolerance towards corruption.”Hitting out at Congress on corruption issue, the BJP leader said it had failed to take action against its leaders involved in many scams.

                                                                        Prof. John Kurakar