Lokayukta rejects Katta's discharge plea

Rejecting plea, the Judge adjourns the case to May 27 for framing of charges; directs the accused to be present in the court on that day

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Press Trust Of India Bangalore
Last Updated : Apr 29 2013 | 11:21 PM IST
Lokayukta court today dismissed applications filed by former minister Katta Subramanya Naidu, his son and seven others seeking discharge from Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) land scam case.

Rejecting the applications, Judge N K Sudhindra Rao adjourned the case to May 27 for framing of charges and directed the accused to be present in the court on that day. On December 3, 2010, the then IT Minister Subramanya Naidu resigned over this multi-crore KIADB land scam.

His resignation came a day after the Lokayukta filed a police complaint against him, his Bangalore corporator son Katta Jagadish Naidu and eight others over the alleged illegal allotment of 325 acre land on the city outskirts to a software company. The father-son duo was alleged to have made Rs 87 crore in the KIADB scam.

The two were 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. The allotment took place in 2006-07 when Subramanya Naidu was Industries Minister in the Janata Dal-Secular-BJP coalition government.

KIADB is the government agency that acquires land for industrial and infrastructure purposes.

The eight others named in the complaint include Naidus' business associates and officials of KIADB. The alleged illegal action of Naidu and his son came to the fore when Lokayukta was probing payment of compensation by 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 was also accused of taking a compensation of Rs 4 crore from KIADB for a piece of land in the area though it did not belong to him.

Three Karnataka Administrative Service officers were arrested for doling out the compensation to Jagadish. Naidu and his son are currently on bail.
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First Published: Apr 29 2013 | 8:40 PM IST

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