A day after filing an FIR against B.S. Yeddyurappa, for his alleged role in illegalities in mining, the CBI on Wednesday searched the houses of the former Chief Minister, his immediate kin and close associates in Bangalore and his home district, Shimoga.
The CBI also searched the offices of some business firms and trusts run by Mr. Yeddyurappa's family members in Bangalore and houses/offices of top executives of JSW Steel Ltd; and South West Mining Ltd. (SWML) in Bellary district, official sources told The Hindu.
The CBI, in a press release, said it seized “incriminating” documents during the searches conducted in the three cities as part of the investigation in connection with the case registered against Mr. Yeddyurappa and others under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Karnataka Land (Restriction on Transfer) Act, and Sections 120-B, 420 and 409 of the Indian Penal Code.
Around 5.45 a.m. a CBI team went to Mr. Yeddyurappa's house in the upmarket Dollar Colony in Bangalore and conducted a search, while another team went to his official residence on Racecourse Road at 6 a.m.
Subsequently, CBI teams searched the offices of Bhagat Homes and Dhavalagiri Properties, two real estate firms in which his sons B.Y. Raghavendra and B.Y. Vijayendra and son-in-law R. Sohan Kumar are partners.
Certain documents were seized from the office of Prerana Trust in Seshadripuram.
The CBI teams also searched the houses of Mr. Yeddyurappa's close associates: the former minister, S.N. Krishnaiah Setty, BJP MLA S.R. Vishwanath and MLC Lehar Singh Siroya. Searches were also conducted at the house/office of mining leaseholder R. Praveen Chandra at Srinagar in Bangalore, the sources said.
In Shimoga, a CBI team searched the house of Mr. Yeddyurappa's daughter B.Y. Arunadevi, a co-director of Prerana Trust, and verified documents for more than five hours.
The officials questioned her husband, Uday Kumar, and took him to branches of State Bank of Mysore and Syndicate Bank, where Prerana Trust has accounts and lockers. The lockers were opened in the presence of Mr. Uday Kumar, and the CBI officials collected information about the documents and cash deposited there.
Later, Ms. Arunadevi told journalists that the documents verified at her house related to vehicles owned by her family, the statements of their personal bank accounts and insurance bonds.
During the searches in Bellary district, a CBI team visited the SWML office at Torangal in Sandur taluk and checked documents for over six hours. It also searched the houses of Vinod Nowal, CEO of JSW Steels Ltd., and Uday Kumar Pandey, CEO of SWML, who were, incidentally, away from Torangal.
A few months ago, the CBI raided the offices of JSW while investigating the illegal mining activities of Obulapuram Mining Company and Associated Mining Company (AMC), both owned by the jailed former Minister G. Janardhan Reddy.
