10/05/2012 - Myclipp

The Economic Times/ - Politics/Nation, Qua, 16 de Maio de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Supreme Court)
Yeddyurappa seeks anticipatory bail as
CBI raids continue
BANGALORE: Fearing imminent arrest, former
Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa
Wednesday applied for anticipatory bail in a special
court even as the CBI continued its raids at his
residence and premises of his family and a few others
in connection with the multi-crore mining scam.
"The CBI special court has adjourned the hearing on
Yeddyurappa's bail plea to Thursday after the agency
sought time to study his petition and file objections as
its officials were busy with raids on all six accused
named in the FIR," an investigation official told here.
Yeddyurappa's son-in-law Sohan Kumar also moved
the special court for anticipatory bail as he is the fourth
accused in the graft case along with the former, his
two sons BS Vijayendra and BS Raghavendra, former
endowments (muzrai) minister Krishnaiah Shetty and
mining baron Praveen Chandra.
Raghavendra is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok
Sabha member, elected from Shimoga.
In a related development, the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) intensified raids at the residences
of Yeddyurappa's kin and Shetty and the offices of
Jindal Steel Works (JSW) group subsidiaries in Bellary,
about 300 km from here, and seized incriminating
documents and records.
The simultaneous raids, which began before dawn at
the private residence of Yeddyurappa in the upscale
Dollars Colony here and later at his official residence,
spread to his hometown Shimoga, about 270 km away,
and to Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Ltd in Bellary district.
"A six-member team of our officials completed the
search of Prerana Trust, the educational trust office of
Yeddyurappa's family, and seized two bag loads of
documents and files related to the graft case," the
official said on anonymity.
The CBI registered the graft case late Tuesday under
the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused
after receiving a copy of the order from the Supreme
Court, directing it to investigate the corruption charges
for illegal mining.
The case was also registered under various sections
of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Karnataka
Land (restriction on transfer) Act, 1991.
"During investigation, searches (were) carried at
various places in Bangalore, Shimoga and Bellary in
Karnataka. Incriminating documents have been found
during the searches," the CBI said in a statement.
The apex court May 11 ordered the CBI to investigate
the charges that a subsidiary of the steel major Jindal
group (South West Mining Co) donated Rs.10 crore to
an educational trust (Prerana) set up by
Yeddyurappa's kin for granting it leases to mine iron
ore when he was chief minister from May 30, 2008 to
July 31, 2011.
The apex court appointed-Central Empowered
Committee (CEC) April 20 recommended a CBI probe
into the graft charges on the basis of documents and
records submitted by the Dharwad-based Samudaya
Trust, a NGO.
Another charge is that mining baron Chandra had
given Rs 2.5 crore to Bhagat Homes Ltd and Rs 3.5
crore to Dhavalgiri Property Developers Ltd, which are
run by Yeddyurappa's kin in return for granting mining
leases to him.
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