Bangalore: The land scam complaints, filed by the two advocates who got the nod from Governor H R Bhardwaj to prosecute Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, are bound to put the CM and the BJP in a bind. And in a clever strategy, the two advocates -- Sirajin Basha and K N Balaraj - have filed over 20 cases so that if CM escapes in one, he may be ensnared in another.
The two lightweight advocates from Yeddyurappa's home town of Shimoga were picked by the CM's arch rival H D Kumaraswamy, president of the Janata Dal (S), and the strategy to file multiple complaints was a brainwave of the JD(S), sources say.
In their complaint filed before a special court here, the advocates have alleged that Yeddyurappa's relatives acquired benami properties worth Rs 88.48 crore. And the petition points out that the entire Rs 88.48 crore for acquiring these properties went from a single bank account that was operated from Bangalore -- Bharat Co-operative Bank (Mumbai).
The people who bought these properties worth Rs 88.48 crore were no cash cows. Obviously they were just stand-ins or benamis. The petitions have named the benami property owners as: M Manjunath of Kumsi in Shimoga, his elder sister N Akkamahadevi, N S Mahalabaleshwara of Honnali, V Manjunath, V Prakash, V Anil Kumar and K Shivappa of Bangalore. All of them have been roped in as respondents in the petition.
The first of a series of benami transactions dates back to August 7, 2010, when Yeddyurappa denotified 2.05 acres of land worth Rs 46. 5 crore in Arakere in Bangalore South taluk. Of this, 1.07 acres, worth about Rs 25.39 crore was purchased by N Akkamahadevi and Mahabaleshwarappa. The question that would be asked by the court and the IT department would be on how Akkamahadevi and Mahabaleshwarappa got that much money.
The petition then focuses on one V Prakash who obtained general power of attorney (GPA) of the above land.
The second denotification took place on May 26, 2010. On that day, the Yeddyurappa government denotified 1.07 acres of land Devarachikkanahalli in Bangalore South. The land was originally acquired by the Bangalore Development Authority in 1994 for a layout. Soon after the denotification, a major chunk was purchased by M Manjuanth and V Anil Kumar -- close associates of Yeddyurappa.
The petitioner advocates have pointed out that Anil Kumar is a close associate of Yeddyurappa's son B Y Vijayendra.
The next denotification took place on September 1, 2010, when the Government freed four acres in Geddalahalli, which was identified for the Arkavathi layout near Bangalore . V Manjunath and K Shivappa purchased the land after it was denotified.
Yeddyurappa will have a tough time trying to answer why he denotified the lands and how these shady transactions took place.