The Hindu : Karnataka News : Yediyurappa seeks Krishna's statement on ransom charge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 04, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Yediyurappa seeks Krishna's statement on ransom charge

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, AUG. 3. The Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, B.S. Yediyurappa, on Tuesday sought a statement from the former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna on the allegations made against him by the former Assistant Commissioner of Police T.G. Sangram Singh.

Mr. Krishna was not present in the House. Mr. Yediyurappa said the retired police official had levelled allegations against Mr. Krishna and a few other leaders, saying that ransom was paid to the brigand Veerappan for securing the release of the Kannada film-star Rajkumar and the money had been raised from the main accused in the fake stamp paper scandal, Abdul Karim Telgi.

Mr. Yediyurappa said the allegations could not be dismissed because Mr. Sangram Singh had gone to the forests to secure the release of Mr. Rajkumar.

Defending Mr. Krishna, the Minister for Revenue and Parliamentary Affairs, M.P. Prakash, said a person who had devoted four decades of his life to public service and held several important posts was being questioned based on the statement of an accused. Though there were variations in the allegations levelled by the former Director-General and Inspector-General of Police C. Dinakar in his book on the abduction of Mr. Rajkumar and the statement of Mr. Sangram Singh, the Opposition was intent on believing them.

Vatal Nagaraj of Kannada Chaluvali Paksha said Veerappan would not have released Mr. Rajkumar out of sympathy and money had changed hands. He demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation on how Mr. Rajkumar's release had been secured.

Infrastructure corridor

Mr. Yediyurappa demanded the setting up of a special court, as promised by the Janata Dal (Secular) in its election manifesto, to look into the alleged irregularities in the acquisition of land for various projects, particularly the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor.

Raising the issue, Mr. Yediyurappa charged that the previous Congress Government had functioned as a "real-estate agent" and acquired thousands of acres of land for various projects, but had misused it for other purposes. He charged that three or four Ministers were involved in the scam which ran into thousands of crores of rupees. Land of several farmers had been acquired after notification and, in many cases, it had been de-notified after taking money from developers.

He said the Industries Department had also acquired land from farmers for industrial areas, but later got them de-notified. As much as 240 hectares of land had been acquired in the Whitefield-Hoody belt for setting up an export zone, but all norms had been violated in the process. Many industries, which were not export oriented, had been allotted land for a "consideration." A Minister in the previous Government was involved in the scam, he added. Demanding a thorough inquiry into the project, Mr. Yediyurappa said the House should be informed how much land was acquired, at what rate and the compensation given to farmers.

Arkavathi layout

With regard to Arkavathi Layout of the Bangalore Development Authority, he urged the Government to allocate sites at the earliest, having collected nearly Rs. 600 crores from the applicants. There were discrepancies in the formation of the layout, he added.

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