Lokayukta court moved against Deve Gowda, 3 other ex-CMs

A complaint was on Wednesday filed in the Lokayukta court against four former Karnataka chief ministers, including former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, for alleged irregularities in the Bangalore-Mysore expressway project.

The complaint has also named former chief ministers N Dharam Singh and B S Yeddyurappa among the 102 people including Ashok Kheny, managing director of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise, which was awarded the project, former Law Secretary and sitting state high court Judge H S Kempanna and 57 IAS officials.

Making his preliminary submission before Lokayukta judge N K Sudhindra Rao, complainant and social activist T J Abraham alleged that in 1995, when Deve Gowda was the chief minister, a MoU was entered into between the state government and a consortium which included Kheny for construction of a road of international standard between Bangalore and Mysore.

As per a framework agreement signed subsequently, the consortium was ready to invest Rs 522 crore for the about Rs 1,500 crore project while the remaining amount was to be raised through loans.

However, Abraham claimed, the consortium was unable to pay the initial deposit of Rs 10 crore to Karnataka Industrial

Area Development Board (KIADB) for the proposed acquisition of land for the project.