Denotification case: Special Court orders further probe against Yediyurappa

It rejects ‘B’ report filed by Lokayukta police; terms investigation ‘defective’

In a serious setback to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, a Special Court on Saturday ordered further investigation against him while terming as “defective” the closure report filed by the Lokayukta police giving him a clean chit in the case of alleged corruption in illegal denotification of land in 2006 when he was serving as the Deputy Chief Minister. “The investigation carried out by the investigation officer (IO) appears to be ineffective, incomplete, defective, and does not inspire the confidence of this court,” said Shridhar Gopalakrishna Bhat, judge of the Special Court to deal with criminal cases related to MPs and MLAs in Karnataka. While rejecting the ‘B’ report, the court observed that “...facts emerging from the ‘B’ report would prima facie indicate that the IO (M.G. Shankaranarayana, Deputy Superintendent of Police) did not conduct the investigation properly as required on the matter referred for investigation so as to thrash out the underlying truth.”