The denotification scam in which BJP state President BS Yeddyurappa has been booked, has taken a new turn.
On Saturday, Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) officer H Basavarajendra, who is the Deputy Secretary of the Mines Investigation Cell, wrote a letter to the Governor, Karnataka Chief Secretary, Subash Chandra Kuntia, and the State Human Rights Commission, alleging that he was forced to lie about Yeddyurappa’s role in the scam.
Basavarajendra, who was the Special Land Acquisition Officer of Bengaluru Development Authority between July 12, 2010 and September 11, 2011, alleged that he received calls from the DySP of ACB, Balaji during this period asking him to falsify his statement about BS Yeddyurappa’s role in the denotification scam.
In a detailed letter, KAS officer Basavarajendra writes, “On August 10, 2017, I received a call from Shri Balaji, DySP, ACB to meet him at the office of ACB. I went to the office in the evening and met Sri Balaji DySP. Soon thereafter, Shri JK Anthony John, DySp also joined. After discussion for about half-an-hour, the said Shri Balaji started dictating a statement to his typist, as if it were a statement given by me.”
The KAS officer alleges that during the dictation, the DySP told his typist that the alleged denotification was done by the then Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and that he had passed illegal orders to denotify land, which caused a loss of about Rs 2,000 crore to the state exchequer.
“At the time, I intervened and stated that I do not know anything about the said fact (the denotification allegedly done by Yeddyurappa), and I clearly stated that all I have done is to discharge the duties assigned to me as the Land Acquisition Officer, who in turn had orders from the Secretariat of the Karnataka government,” the letter states.
Basavarajendra’s letter states that DySPs Balaji and Anthony Jon then told him to go along with the statement that was dictated. The letter further states that the ACB authorities told him to go along with the statement or become an accused in the case.
“DySP Balaji said that I was due for a promotion as IAS officer, and I should agree to the dictation or I should become accused in the case,” the letter states.
The bureaucrat says that he refused to sign the statement and walked out of the office, after which he received a notice from the ACB on August 17, where a case was registered against him under section 41A of the CrPC.
The KAS officer writes that the ACB has made him an accused in a corruption case because he refused to lie.