The CBI on Tuesday filed a chargesheet in court against former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa for allegedly granting undue favours to JSW Steel Ltd and other firms in return for donations to a charitable trust run by his family.
According to the agency, Yeddyurappa helped the firms through a dubious land deal and in the process, caused a loss of R890 crore to the state exchequer. The CBI said that Yeddyurappa also banned iron ore exports, which helped JSW Steel in the domestic market.
In its chargesheet filed before a special CBI court against 13 people, the agency named as accused Yeddyurappa, his sons BY Vijayendra and BY Raghavendra, his son-in-law RN Sohan Kumar, JSW Steel represented by Sajjan Jindal, its CEO Vinod Nowal and senior vice-president Vikas Sharma among others.
A statement from JSW Steel said, “The company always abides by the law of the country and will present its case before the court. The company has full faith in the judiciary that justice will be done.”
{{/usCountry}}A statement from JSW Steel said, “The company always abides by the law of the country and will present its case before the court. The company has full faith in the judiciary that justice will be done.”
{{/usCountry}}The CBI said that during 2006-10 — when Yeddyurappa was CM — Vijayendra, Raghavendra and Kumar purchased land in Bangalore notified for acquisition by the state government for Rs 40 lakh in violation of the laws.
Yeddyurappa denotified the land in an alleged abuse of his position and violation of various rules. The land was later sold for Rs 20 crore to a Jindal group company.
According to the CBI, the inflated price was paid as bribe as a quid pro quo for not insisting on recovery of the Rs 890-crore loss, which Mysore Minerals Limited, a state government PSU, suffered in a joint venture with the Jindal group company.
The accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
With PTI inputs