CBI court acquits Yeddyurappa in bribery case

CBI special court judge R B Dharmagoudar acquitted all the accused in relation to the Prerana Trust case including former Karnataka chief minister and BJP strongman BS Yeddyurappa, Yeddyurappa's two sons BY Raghavendra and BY Vijayendra, and also RN Sohan Kumar, son-in-law of the former chief minister. "Satyameva Jayathe. Justice is done. I stand vindicated," Mr Yeddyurappa tweeted after today's verdict at a court in the state capital of Bengaluru. A prominent leader of the powerful Lingayat community, he heads the BJP in Karnataka and has a mass following. He has been acquitted of accepting kickbacks worth 40 crores while he was Chief Minister to allow illegal mining in the state. In August 2011, Mr Yeddyurappa was forced to resign after Karnataka's ombudsman or Lokayukta, Santosh Hegde, indicted him for colluding in illegal iron-ore mining in the mineral-rich district of Bellary. Justice Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge, had famously described a mafia of politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists running "The Republic of Bellary."