Bangalore, May 16 (IANS) Fearing imminent arrest, former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa Wednesday applied for anticipatory bail in a special court even as the CBI continued its raids at his residence and premises of his family and a few others in connection with the multi-crore mining scam.
"The CBI special court has adjourned the hearing on Yeddyurappa's bail plea to Thursday after the agency sought time to study his petition and file objections as its officials were busy with raids on all six accused named in the FIR," an investigation official told IANS here.
Yeddyurappa's son-in-law Sohan Kumar also moved the special court for anticipatory bail as he is the fourth accused in the graft case along with the former, his two sons B.S. Vijayendra and B.S. Raghavendra, former endowments (muzrai) minister Krishnaiah Shetty and mining baron Praveen Chandra.
Raghavendra is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member, elected from Shimoga.
In a related development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) intensified raids at the residences of Yeddyurappa's kin and Shetty and the offices of Jindal Steel Works (JSW) group subsidiaries in Bellary, about 300 km from here, and seized incriminating documents and records.
The simultaneous raids, which began before dawn at the private residence of Yeddyurappa in the upscale Dollars Colony here and later at his official residence, spread to his hometown Shimoga, about 270 km away, and to Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Ltd in Bellary district.
"A six-member team of our officials completed the search of Prerana Trust, the educational trust office of Yeddyurappa's family, and seized two bag loads of documents and files related to the graft case," the official said on anonymity.
The CBI registered the graft case late Tuesday under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused after receiving a copy of the order from the Supreme Court, directing it to investigate the corruption charges for illegal mining.
The case was also registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Karnataka Land (restriction on transfer) Act, 1991.
"During investigation, searches (were) carried at various places in Bangalore, Shimoga and Bellary in Karnataka. Incriminating documents have been found during the searches," the CBI said in a statement.
The apex court May 11 ordered the CBI to investigate the charges that a subsidiary of the steel major Jindal group (South West Mining Co) donated Rs.10 crore to an educational trust (Prerana) set up by Yeddyurappa's kin for granting it leases to mine iron ore when he was chief minister from May 30, 2008 to July 31, 2011.
The apex court appointed-Central Empowered Committee (CEC) April 20 recommended a CBI probe into the graft charges on the basis of documents and records submitted by the Dharwad-based Samudaya Trust, a NGO.
Another charge is that mining baron Chandra had given Rs.2.5 crore to Bhagat Homes Ltd and Rs.3.5 crore to Dhavalgiri Property Developers Ltd, which are run by Yeddyurappa's kin in return for granting mining leases to him.
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