President of the State unit of BJP and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa alleged “political conspiracy” to frame him in the South-West Mining Company case, as he deposed before the CBI Special Court on Monday. CBI sources said while he answered most of the 400-odd questions with monosyllable, he “turned teary-eyed” towards the end when he claimed conspiracy. Mr. Yeddyurappa is facing trial as prime accused and his attempts to get the case quashed by the Supreme Court has failed. His son Vijayendra and son-in-law Sohan Kumar are also chargesheeted in the case. Mr. Yeddyurappa’s statement was recorded as the CBI recently finished examining all prosecution witnesses in the case, CBI sources said.
Denies all allegations
He answered questions for over two hours and denied all allegations of quid pro quo or corruption. The South-West Mining case was part of Chapter 22 of the second part of Lokayukta report on illegal mining submitted by former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde in July 2011. The case pertains to two transactions of Jindal group with firms linked to the family members of Mr. Yeddyurappa.
The mining firm, a part of Jindal group, bought 1.2 acres of land from a private firm owned by Mr. Yeddyurappa’s family members for Rs. 20 crore, allegedly many times more than the guidance value. In another transaction, a donation of Rs. 10 crore was made by the firm to Prerana Education Trust, Shivamogga, a trust run again by his family members.
