Battle to build strong cases against former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa was challenging all the way; the group of lawyers faced several obstacles, including threats from influential people
Battle to build strong cases against former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa was challenging all the way; the group of lawyers faced several obstacles, including threats from influential people
The events building up to the case, which eventually ended in the ouster of tainted former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, is nothing short of a Herculean task. The lid was blown off the land scam linking the former CM and his relatives by a small group of lawyers, who toiled for over a year sifting through files and accumulating documents related to the case. The battle was difficult all the way and the lawyers had to face several obstacles, including threats and pressure from influential and powerful people.
Interestingly, it all began with a minor case of encroachment onto a BDA site, when A P Ranganath, a lawyer close to JD(S) president H D Deve Gowda, stumbled upon a petition pending in the High Court last year.
Residents of RMV Extension had accused a land dealer of squatting on a piece of land belonging to the BDA, and filed a case in 2007, which started the ball rolling. At that time, Yeddyurappa was deputy chief minister in the H D Kumaraswamy government and he had ordered for clearing the encroachment.
Starting point
Meanwhile, when the case was nearing disposal, Yeddyurappa was CM and his government ordered for division of land; one portion was de-notified illegally and the sites created from the other portion went to his MP-son B Y Raghavendra and others close to him, including Bharathi Shetty, an MLC.
"It was a blatant violation of rules to gobble up government land, which made me curious enough to go after the de-notification scam. I applied for information from the BDA under the Right to Information Act and was astonished to discover the scale of illegality in de-notifying the urban land," said Ranganath.
He added that he found over 107 instances of illegal de-notification of government land in the city limits. Although he could not quantify it in terms of area of land and its value, he said it was over 100 acres and valued at around Rs 4,000 crore. Sirajin Basha, a lawyer leading the group in the mission, said the portion of the exposed scam so far is a mere five percent compared to the actual scale.
Game of wits?
While Ranganath was gaining ground in his investigation, Basha and his associate in Justice Lawyers' Forum K N Balaraj embarked upon collecting documents of illegal de-notification. They were able to procure some 300 documents and hundreds of files.u00a0Y S V Datta, spokesperson of the JD(S), lodged a complaint with the Lokayukta based on the documents Ranganath collected, and the Ombudsman issued notice to Yeddyurappa and his relatives initiating the enquiry.
The government then formed a judicial commission under Justice Padmaraj to investigate the case. However, the petitioners suspected that it was a move to dilute the case and they challenged the constitution of the Enquiry Commission in the HC and the case is pending.
Full circle
Meanwhile, Basha and Balaraj tried file a complaint with the Lokayukta police, but it refused to take the case. They then decided to approach Governor H R Bharadwaj seeking sanction to prosecute Yeddyurappa as the chief minister under a private petition. Following the Governor's sanction, the duo filed five batches of petitions, each with three instances of illegal de-notification last January, in the Lokayukta special court. By then Ranganath had joined them and rest is history.u00a0 The battle was politically sensitive and the lawyers had to face several hurdles, but they passed with flying colours.
Basha said, "People at high level tried to influence us and there were even death threats. But, the developments were under the media spotlight and no one could harm us." Meanwhile, Datta filed a complaint with the Lokayukta regarding a scam related to awarding civil contracts in an irrigation project based on the documents obtained by Ranganath. Yeddyurappa now has to appear before the court on September 3 in connection with the case.
Yeddy under trial
>>Five cases each with three instances of de-notification. The case is before the Lokayukta special court
>>Irregularity in awarding civil and electrical works in an irrigation project. The case is pending with the Lokayukta special court
>>The Governor has directed the Lokayukta to investigate the cases of charity trusts run by Yeddyurappa's sons getting kickbacks from steel companies as mentioned in the Lokayukta report on illegal mining. Lokayukta police currently investigatingu00a0
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