CM's chair inches away from Yeddy

The apex court asked CBI to probe graft charges against the former Karnataka CM and his family members

In a severe setback to former Karnataka CM BS Yeddyurappa’s comeback bid, the apex court yesterday ordered the CBI to probe corruption charges against him and his family members. The directive by the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia came even as Yeddyurappa and ministers and legislators supporting him had launched yet another bid in Bangalore to oust Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda.

Those were the days:u00a0Yeddyurappa, BJP’s first CM in Karnataka, quit on July 31 last year over graft issues. File pic

The CBI will probe charges that ‘Prerana Trust’ run by Yeddyurappa’s sons, one of whom is a BJP Lok Sabha member from Karnataka, received
Rs 10 crore donation from a South West Mining Corp of Jindal group. Another charge is that Bhagat Homes Private Ltd and Dhavalgiri Property Developers Ltd, both run by Yeddyuppa’s kin, had received Rs 2.5 crore and Rs 3.5 crore, respectively from businessman Praveen Chandra in return for granting of mining lease.

Yeddyurappa, BJP’s first CM in Karnataka, quit on July 31 last year over the same issues, four days after the then Lokayukta Santosh Hegde recommended his trial. Gowda took over from him on August 4. Besides Yeddyurappa others who will come under CBI scanner include his two sons, BY Raghavendra, the BJP MP from Shimoga, and BY Vijayendra. Reacting to the apex court directive, Yeddyurappa said he was confident of getting justice from the probe. “I will come out clean. I am confident of getting justice from the CBI probe,” he said.u00a0

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