Setback for Yeddy: SC allows CBI probe in mining cases

In a huge setback to the personal ambitions of Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa of being reinstated, the Supreme Court has sanctioned a CBI probe against him in relation to irregularities in handing out mining contracts in the state. The sanction comes on the back of a recommendation by the Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee. The Central Empowered Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court to probe illegal mining and related bribery cases in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, submitted its recommendation to the apex court in New Delhi in March. Following news of the verdict, Yeddyurappa called an urgent meeting with his supporters. [caption id=“attachment_306127” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“This is a huge setback to Yeddyurappa’s demands that he be reinstated as Chief Minister: PTI”]  [/caption] The allegation is that Praveen Chandra, a mine operator, had given Rs 2.5 crore to a firm run by Yeddyurappa‘s son-in-law RN Sohan Kumar and Rs 3.5 crore to another firm owned by Vijayendra and his brother BY Raghavendra as a favour for facilitating license. Raghavendra is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member from Karnataka. Vijayendra said the CEC report states that “the mining operations of Praveen Chandra are completely legal, however in the interest of the public, the above cheque transactions needs to be investigated”. The allegation has been made by an NGO, Samaaja Parivarthana Samudaya. The NGO has sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The Supreme Court is likely to consider the CEC report Friday to decide whether the charges need a CBI probe. In the statement Vijayendra said his father Yeddyurappa, who quit 31 July last year over corruption charges and is pressuring his party’s national leaders for re-instatement, had not given any licence to Chandra. Vijayendra said Chandra’s mining application was made to the central government in 2002 and approved by it in 2006 when Yeddyurappa was not the chief minister. He assumed office in May 2008. “After the central government’s recommendation, the state government has passed final notification order Oct 12, 2010,” he said. Vijayendra said of the Rs 6 crore, which he claimed were “unsecured loans” taken in Nov 2009 though cheques, Rs 2.5 crores had been paid back to Chandra. Reacting to the report, Yeddyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra said in a statement late Thursday in Bangalore that the amount was not a kickback but a loan taken through cheques. The recommendation is likely to strike a huge blow to Yeddyurappa’s ambitions of being reinstated as chief minister of Karnataka. He has been putting pressure on the BJP hierarchy to reinstate him after the Karnataka High Court cleared him of charges in illegal mining cases brought against him by the state Lokayukta. With inputs from IANS