Minister for information technology in the BS Yeddyurappa-led BJP government in Karnataka, Katta Subramanya Naidu, quit on Friday following the registration of a complaint against him by the state anti-corruption agency, the Lok Ayukta, of receiving kickbacks of Rs 87 crore for allotting 323 acres for an IT SEZ and cheating land owners in the land acquisition process for the SEZ.
Though the minister did not issue any statement, chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, who is himself facing charges of nepotism and corruption in land matters, made a brief statement on the sidelines of an energy ministry meeting regarding the exit of his close aide.
?Katta Subramanya Naidu submitted his resignation this morning. This has been forwarded to the governor. He has resigned to enable a free and fair probe in the case filed against him,?? Yeddyurappa said on Friday even as Opposition leaders called press conferences to seize the issue.
Naidu?s name first emerged in a land related scam three months ago when his son Katta Jagadish was found to have received Rs 2.24 crore as compensation for a piece of government land acquired by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board in the new Bangalore airport region.
The land acquired was to be part of a new 3,266 acre IT investment region of Bangalore that would also house a 323 acre IT SEZ.
Investigations by the Karnataka Lok Ayukta into this case revealed that the KIADB paid out compensations to the tune of Rs 107 crore on the basis of fake claims?traced in several cases to the minister?s friends and family.