Lokayukta indicts Yeddyurappa in mining scam

CNN-IBN

New Delhi, 21 July 2011: There is trouble in store for the Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa - sources have told CNN-IBN that the Karnataka Lokayukta’s report on illegal mining has named Yeddyurappa.

 

The Karnataka chief minister is likely to be charged on two counts.

 

The Lokayukta report has also named four other ministers. The lokayukta report is to come out in August.

 

The Lokayukta has recommended a probe into Yeddyurappa’s role and that of his four ministerial colleagues with regard to illegal mining in the state.

The report by Lokayukta Santosh Hegde has also sought an investigation into the role of former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anil Lad, said sources.

 

When contacted, Justice Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge, refused to comment on the recommendations, but sources said the four Ministers who were named in the report are: G Janardhana Reddy, G Karunakara Reddy, B Sriramulu, all hailing

from the mineral-rich Bellary district, and V Somanna.

 

"My report is leaked...But I am sure it’s not an insider’s job. Obviously there are people who are interested from outside. They must have been keeping a tab," he said.

 

"My report is not even printed. In a day or two, I was preparing to give (submit) it," he said referring to the second and final report on illegal mining in the state.

 

Lokayukta sources had in the past indicated that the report would be "politically explosive".

 

The exhaustive report running into thousands of pages reportedly also has inputs from the CBI and Income Tax department, which had also probed the issue of illegal mining in the state.