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Karnataka IT
minister resigns, land scam hits Yeddyurappa hard
Friday December 03, 2010 06:55:43 PM ,
IANS
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Bangalore: Karnataka IT
Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu Friday resigned over a multi-crore
land deal and the state ombudsman said he could be arrested if he
attempted to threaten witnesses or destroy evidence.
"Katta Subramanya Naidu has submitted his resignation to
facilitate an impartial probe into charges against him and I have
forwarded it to the governor (H.R. Bhardwaj) for acceptance,"
Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa told reporters here.
"We have no plans to arrest him immediately but he will be
arrested if he tries to abscond, threaten witnesses or destroy
evidence," Karnataka Lok Ayukta (ombudsman) N. Santosh Hegde, a
former Supreme Court justice, said.
Naidu's resignation came a day after the Lok Ayukta filed a police
complaint against him, his Bangalore corporator son Katta Jagadish
Naidu and eight others over the alleged illegal allotment of 325
acres of land on the city outskirts for a software company.
The father-son duo are said to have made Rs.87 crore.
The allotment took place in 2006-07 when Subramanya Naidu was
industries minister in the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S)-BJP coalition
government. Yeddyurappa was deputy chief minister in the
government with H.D. Kumaraswamy of the JD-S as the chief
minister.
Naidu is the fourth minister of the first BJP government in
Karnataka to quit over a controversy since it took office in May
2008.
The others were Haratalu Halappa over charges of rape, S.N.
Krishnaiah Shetty over a land deal, and Ramachandra Gowda in view
of irregularities in recruitment to government medical colleges
and hospitals.
The Naidus have been slapped with charges of forgery, cheating,
creating false documents, floating fictitious companies, and
taking compensation from a government agency for lands that did
not belong to them.
Naidu's son Jagadish was arrested in September while attempting to
bribe a witness in the land deal case. Jagadish is now out on
bail.
Naidu, who also holds the portfolios of biotechnology and housing,
has denied the charges against him and his son.
The eight others named in the complaint include Naidus' business
associates and officials of the Karnataka Industrial Area
Development Board (KIADB). The KIADB is the government agency that
acquires land for industrial and infrastructure purposes.
The alleged illegal actions of Naidu and his son came out in
September this year when the Lok Ayukta was probing payment of
compensation by the KIADB for lands it had acquired at
Bandikodigehalli, near the new Bangalore international airport,
about 35 km from the city centre.
The land, worth over Rs.100 crore, was allotted to ITASCA software
firm owned by an associate of Naidus.
Apart from charges of the Naidus receiving Rs.87 crore in bribes
to get the land allotted to ITASCA, Jagadish is also accused of
taking a compensation of Rs.4 crore from the KIADB for a piece of
land in the area though it did not belong to him.
Three Karnataka Administrative Service officers have been arrested
for doling out the compensation to Jagadish.
Though pressure had been mounting on Subramanya Naidu to resign in
September itself, he had held on and Yeddyurappa had also come out
in his support saying "parents should not be punished for
children's misdeeds".
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Karnataka IT
minister resigns, land scam hits Yeddyurappa hard
Karnataka IT
Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu Friday resigned over a multi-crore
land deal and the state ombudsman said he could be arrested if he
attempted to threaten witnesses or destroy evidence.
"Katta Subramanya Naidu has submitted his resignation to
facilitate
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