Thaindian News

Bangalore, Oct 21 (IANS) The Karnataka Police Friday began probing land grab charges against Home Minister R. Ashoka. He, however, remained defiant and said he will not quit but cooperate with police.

The police attached to the Lokayukta (ombudsman) late Friday registered an FIR that marks the formal beginning of the investigation.

Besides Ashoka, the FIR names arrested former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and two others, a Lokayukta spokesperson told reporters here.

The FIR was registered following the order of Lokayukta special court judge N.K. Sudhindra Rao to police Thursday to investigate the charges and report by Nov 5.

Ashoka is accused of getting over half-an-acre of government land freed from official control, a process called denotification, in 2009 and acquiring it at hugely less than the market price. This is alleged to have caused the state a loss of around Rs.50 crore.

Yeddyurappa is also named in the FIR as he was the chief minister in 2009.

The case has been filed by Jayakumar Hiremath, a Bangalore resident who claims to be a social activist. Hiremath has charged that the land in Lottegollahalli in north Bangalore was acquired by the government’s Bangalore Development Authority in 1992.

However, he says Ashoka “forced” the owners of the land to seek denotification, “pressured” Yeddyurappa to denotify and bought it at a price hugely less than the market rate.

A similar case had been filed in the Lokayukta court by another Bangalore resident, Manjunath, last year. The court had ordered police to probe but Ashoka challenged it in the high court. The case collapsed as Manjunath withdrew the complaint.

Earlier in the day, Ashoka had rejected opposition Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) demand for his resignation following the court directive to police to begin the probe.

“It is natural for the opposition to demand resignation. They have done it a thousand times so far,” he told reporters here.

Ashoka asserted that his continuing to be home minister would not hamper the police probe into the charges. “I will cooperate fully,” he said.

Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda declined to comment. “My stand is that we should not comment on court cases,” he told reporters here.

Soon after the court order, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah of the Congress told reporters: “He (Ashoka) is the home minister. How can a fair probe take place as long as he remains minister.”

JD-S spokesperson Y.S.V. Datta too demanded that Ashoka resign to provide a free hand to the police to probe the charges.