A close aide of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today charged that relatives of JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy were benefitted to the tune of several crores by purchasing and selling land denotified by Bangalore Development Authority.
The CM’s Political Secretary B J Puttaswamy charged that Mr. Kumaraswamy had ordered denotification of 194.33 acres flouting all rules when he was the Chief Minister and caused Rs 2,000 crore loss to BDA, hours after the JDS leader made fresh charges of corruption against Mr. Yeddyurappa.
Some denotified lands were purchased by Mr. Kumaraswamy’s relatives including Kavita, wife of his brother H D Balakrishna Gowda for lower price and sold for a huge sum, he charged.
Ms. Kavitha purchased 10.17 acres of denotified land in Banashankari in the city for Rs 50 lakh and later sold it a realtor firm for Rs four crore, he said and claimed actual value of this land at prevailing market price was Rs 20 crore.
He alleged that Rs four crore had been shown as sale value to evade stamp duty.
Similar transactions have been made by some relatives of Mr. Kumaraswamy and his father, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, he charged and released documents to support the charge.
Few months ago Mr. Kumaraswamy had accused Mr. Yeddyurappa of indulging in acts of nepotism by denotifying 1.06 acres acquired by BDA in favour of his sons and son-in-law who sold it for higher price.
“Mr. Kumaraswamy has also indulged in nepotism. Mr. Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister allotted 25 sites under ‘G’ category to his relatives,” he said.
Mr. Puttaswamy also charged that Mr. Kumaraswamy invested in different names in Kasturi Media Pvt Limited, which owns Kasturi TV Channel headed by his wife Anita. “This is nothing but a fraud to avoid Income Tax”, he said.
Mr. Puttaswamy rejected charges made by Mr. Kumaraswamy today that Davalagiri Properties and Sahyadri Health Care, run by Mr. Yeddyurappa’s family, received Rs 13 crore kickback from Murudeshwara Power corporation and claimed it was paid as share contribution to a joint venture firm.
Murudeshwara Power Corporation and Davalagiri properties have formed a JV to develop an Industrial park in Shimoga and with Sahyadri Health care, it would set up an hospital, Mr. Puttaswamy said. However, he could not specify the share capital infused by Mr. Yeddyurappa’s family into these two ventures.
He demanded Mr. Kumaraswamy offer clarifications on Rs 167 crore funds that ‘got transferred’ into firms owned by his family when he was the Chief Minister.
