He Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday filed chargesheets against former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa as the prime accused in a mining scandal. His sons B Y Vijayendra and B Y Raghavendra and son-in-law R N Sohan Kumar have also been charged along with officials of Sajjan Jindal's JSW steel and the South West Mining Co, which is connected to JSW.

The charges are in keeping with the directions of the Supreme Court in May to probe the case. Yeddyurappa has been accused of receiving a Rs20-crore kickback from South West Mining in return for waiving Rs890 crore due to the state government from the company.

Others named in the chargesheet filed in the special CBI court in Bangalore are JSW chief executive Vinod Nowal and senior vice-president V Sharma.

JSW has issued a statement that it has not received copy of charges against its officers. ''It is premature to comment before receiving charges. The company has cooperated with authorities during probe,'' JSW Steel said.

It further said that conclusions drawn by the said authorities leading to chargesheet are without basis. ''The company always abides by law of the country and would present its case before the court,'' JSW Steel said. The company has full faith in the judiciary that justice will be done, it added.

The CBI said in a press release, ''Investigation has revealed that the said amount of Rs20 crore was illegal gratification received from the Bellary-based private company as a quid pro quo for not insisting on the recovery of Rs890 crore from the same company, which is the loss caused to a government of Karnataka PSU by a joint venture with the same private steel company.''

The charges against Yeddyurappa come on a day on which his associate, former union minister V. Dhananjay Kumar, was expelled from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Yeddyurappa has already left the BJP and announced that he would launch a new regional political party in December.

Besides Yeddyurappa, the list of accused comprises the Prerana Educational and Social Trust, represented by managing trustee Raghavendra; former state minister S N  Krishnaiah Setty; JSW Steel Ltd, represented by Sajjan Jindal; South West Mining Co Ltd, represented by Anil Sood; Vinod Nowal, chief executive of, JSW Steel; Real Technical Solution Pvt Ltd represented by Srikant Shetty; Jai Bharat Technical Services Pvt. Ltd, represented by Muralidhar Dash; and Industrial Techno Manpower Supply & Services Pvt Ltd represented by Vivekananda Kulkarni.

Charges have been filed against them under Sections 120-B read with 109, 420, 468, and 471 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 7, 9, 11, 12, 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Section 9 r/w Section 4 of the Karnataka Land (Restriction on) Transfer Act.

According to the CBI investigation, the accused planned a criminal conspiracy in Bangalore and other places during 2006-10. Vijayendra, Raghavendra and Sohan Kumar purchased land for Rs40 lakh, which had actually been notified for acquisition by the Karnataka government. This land was de-notified by Yeddyurappa, by abusing his official position.

Later, the same piece of land was sold at an exorbitant Rs.20 crore to a group of Bellary-based companies while the guidance value of the land was Rs1.5 crore, the CBI charged.

Soon after the transfer of land to the companies, a the trust run by the chief minister's kin started receiving the money, with Rs 6 crore as the first instalment, the investigators said.