Spelling more trouble for former Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa, Karnataka Lokayukta Police on Monday filed a chargesheet against him and former Industries Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu for “criminal misconduct as public servants in arbitrarily denotifying land“.
It came on a day when the Lokayukta Special Court ordered probe against Mr. Yeddyurappa and Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani on a complaint accusing them of illegally ordering cancellation of an industrial site on the basis of a forged signature.
The chargesheet against Mr. Yeddyurappa and Mr. Katta have been filed under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, City Lokayukta SP P.K. Shivashankara told reporters here.
Mr. Yeddyurappa “caused” heavy loss to the state exchequer by denotifying the land by waiving development and service charges amounting to Rs 8.64 crore, he said.
Mr. Shivashankara said Mr. Yeddyurappa, when he was Chief Minister in 2008, abused his official power and illegally denotified 20 acres acquired by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) for setting up an SEZ at Hoovinayankanahalli near Devanahalli.
The land belongs to the owners of leading English and Kannada dailies, he said.
Prior to denotifying the land, Mr. Yeddyurappa had sent the application for denotification asking KIADB officials to calculate the amount of development and service charges to be paid by the land owners, Mr. Shivashankara said.
