Lokayukta court orders probe against ex-karnataka CMS

BANGALORE: Lokayukta court here on Thursday ordered a probe against three former Karnataka chief ministers — former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, external affairs minister SM Krishna and BS Yeddyurappa — on a complaint alleging irregularities in the Bangalore-Mysore expressway project.

Judge NK Sudhindra Rao directed additional DGP (Lokayukta) HN Sathyanarayana Rao to conduct the probe against the three and 27 others in connection with the alleged corruption and illegalities in the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project that was awarded to the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) and its sister companies.

The complaint was filed by social activist and entrepreneur TJ Abraham.

Others, against whom the probe was ordered, included NICE managing director Ashok Kheny, former minister RV Deshpande, Congress leader DK Shivakumar, public works minister CM Udasi, ICICI Bank, industrialist Baba Kalyani, former governor of Massachusetts USA William Weld, and Richard Hangan, another US national, who was part of the consortium with which the state had signed an MoU for the project.

Abraham had named 105 people in his complaint, alleging illegal grabbing of farmers’ lands for the project.

However, the court ordered a probe only against the 30. Another former CM N Dharam Singh is among those excluded from the probe.

The court directed that a wing be constituted comprising not less than four deputy superintendents of police for investigating the matter.