The former Chief Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) State unit president H.D. Kumaraswamy said his political opponents are trying to tarnish his image by repeatedly moving the courts against his alleged involvement in illegal mining on the basis of “same set of facts”.
In a statement here, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the allegation related to amassing illegal wealth amounting to Rs. 167 crore through BSK Trading, which has now been filed in the Special Lokayukta Court by Ravikumar, was also on the basis of the “same set of facts”.
Claiming that the complaint had been filed with a “political motive”, Mr. Kumaraswamy has sought “severe punishment” for Mr. Ravikumar, whom the JD(S) leader has described as a follower of the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa. The complainant is a BJP activist-turned KJP worker, he said.
In the complaint filed before the Lokayukta court on December 28, the complainant has also named his son Nikhil and brother H.D. Ramesh.
“Neither I, nor my family members have any financial transactions with family-owned entity BSK Trading,” he said. He said BSK Trading was a business entity of his brother, Mr. Ramesh and his sister-in-law H. Kavitha, who have been trading in mineral and other products “much before he became the Chief Minister of Karnataka”.
He said BSK Trading had provided all the details about its transactions to the Lokayukta and the then Lokayukta Santosh Hegde had not find fault with it. Cases filed against him in this regard have also been quashed by the Karnataka High Court.
