High Court quashes proceedings against Katta in KIADB?land scam

Bengaluru: Nov 4: In a major relief to BJP leader and former Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu, the Karnataka High Court on Thursday discharged him from the multi-crore ITASCA Software–KIADB bribery scam case for which he was arrested and was in prison for a few weeks under judicial custody in 2011.

Justice Anand Byrareddy delivered the verdict while holding that the material support and further narration of sequence “do not indicate a direct demand or receipt of illegal gratification by the petitioner [Mr. Naidu] from any party”.

The High Court passed the order while allowing Mr. Naidu's plea against the trial court's decision of 2013 refusing to discharge him in the case.

Naidu had approached the court urging it to quash the Lokayukta proceedings initiated against him. It was alleged that large tracts of land in Bandikodigehalli village in Jala hobli on International Airport road were acquired to establish IT and ITES firms. The KIADB was alleged to have demanded bribe from land owners for speedy disbursement of compensation.

Naidu, a former minister for Industries, IT and BT, and Gopi, a former coporator, were booked on the charges of committing irregularities in allotment of land. Two corporate entities, Itasca Software Development Pvt Ltd and United Telecom Limited (UTL) were accused of conspiring with the suspects in the allotment process. The judge quashed the proceedings stating that, “Two corporate bodies Itasca and UTL have not been named in the charge sheet as the accused. The theory of conspiracy has no foundation and cannot be sustained against any of the accused.” (sic).

The Lokayukta police case was that in 2006, Itasca sought 325 acres from the then JD(S)-BJP coalition government to set up a special economic zone (SEZ). The application was made through Naidu's son Katta Jagadish to the Karnataka Udyog Mitra. Despite several deficiencies in the application, Naidu, who was then a minister, instructed the authorities that the application be tabled before a high-powered committee headed by the chief minister.

Subsequently, the application was accepted and the government issued an order for allotment of land at Bandikodigehalli. The Lokayukta police, upon investigation, found large-scale irregularities by the KIADB during acquisition of land for Itasca. The police stated that S V Srinivas of Itasca and Basavapoornaiah had paid Rs 87 crore to Naidu and his son. The money was paid to them through?Indu Developers, a proxy company held by the Katta family.