Apex court tells CBI to probe graft charges against Yeddyurappa

The directive by the apex court bench of Chief Justice SH Kapadia Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Swatanter Kumar came even as Yeddyurappa and ministers and legislators supporting him launched yet another bid in Bangalore to oust Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda The CBI will probe charges that 39Prerana Trust39 run by Yeddyurappa39s sons one of whom is a Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha member from Karnataka received Rs10 crore donation from a South West Mining Corp of Jindal group Another charge is that Bhagat Homes Private ltd and Dhavalgiri Property Developers ltd both run by Yeddyuppa39s kin had received Rs25 crore and Rs35 crore respectively from businessman Praveen Chandra in return for granting of mining lease Yeddyurappa BJP39s first chief minister in Karnataka quit July 31 last year over the same issues four days after the then Lokayukta ombudsman N Santosh Hegde recommended his trial Gowda took over from him Aug 4 Pronouncing the order Judge Swatanter Kumar said quotThe CBI shall undertake investigation in the most fair proper and unbiased manner uninfluenced by the stature of the persons and the political or corporate clout involved in the present casequot The order further said quotIt will be open to the CBI to examine and inspect the records of any connected matter pending before any investigating agency or any courtquot The court said that all the proceedings before any court in relation to the matter entrusted to the CBI for investigation shall remain stayed till further orders of the apex court The CBI shall complete its investigation and submit a report to a court of competent jurisdiction with a copy to be placed on the file of the apex court within three months The court further said that any investigation being conducted by any agency other than the CBI shall also not progress any further The CBI shall complete its investigation uninfluenced by any order inquiry or investigation that is pending on the date of passing of this order quotThe competent authority shall constitute the special investigating team headed by an officer not below the rank of additional director general of policeadditional commissioner forthwithquot the order said Yeddyurappa BJP39s first chief minister in Karnataka quit July 31 last year over the same issues four days after the then lokayukta ombudsman N Santosh Hegde recommended his trial Gowda took over from him Aug 4 Besides Yeddyurappam others who will come under CBI scanner include his two sons BY Raghavendra the BJP MP from Shimoga about 280 km from Bangalore and BY Vijayendra Reacting to the apex court directive Yeddyurappa said he was confident of getting justice from the probe quotI will come out clean I am confident of getting justice from the CBI probequot he told reporters in Nanjangud about 160 km north of Bangalore Chief Minister Gowda who was also in Nanjangud to attend a function declined comment saying quotI can react only after getting full informationquot In Bangalore the opposition Congress and Janata DalSecular welcomed the apex court order The Congress went a step further and demanded immediate resignation of the BJP government in the state quotThe BJP regime has lost moral authority to continue in office It should quit immediatelyquot Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka assembly Siddaramaiah of Congress told reporters Former chief minister and JDS lok Sabha member HD Kumaraswamy said quotThis will be a lesson to all against misusing powerquot Yeddyurappa claims the support of around 70 of BJP39s 120 legislators in the 225member Karnataka assembly Around 40 legislators including a few ministers supporting him had been demanding for the last two days immediate convening of the party39s legislature wing to take on Gowda They had launched signature campaign for the meeting following the leak of Gowda39s March 26 letter to BJP chief Nitin Gadkari suggesting dropping from the cabinet of ministers supporting Yeddyurappa on the ground that they were indulging in antiparty activities The apex court ruling followed a recommendation by the Central Empowered Committee CEC appointed by it that the allegation of quid pro quo against Yeddyurappa and his kin be probed by the CBI The CEC recommendation came on a petition by a Karnatakabased NGO Samaja Parivartana Samudaya u00a0