Bengaluru: State BJP President B.S. Yeddyurappa and Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister H.N. Ananthkumar have been directed to appear before the Cyber Crime Police (CCB) to provide their voice samples in connection with a complaint filed by the Congress regarding payments made to the BJP High Command.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court asked both the BJP leaders to submit their voice samples within a week.

The two BJP leaders were allegedly caught discussing payments made to their party leadership in addition to their political plan to project the controversial MLC diary containing details of kickbacks received by Senior Congress leaders as an election issue in Karnataka.

Soon after a Regional television channel aired the footage of the conversation in February, C.M. Dhananjaya, Chairman of KPCC’s Legal Cell filed a complaint of a deliberate attempt to destabilise and malign the present Government following which the BJP leaders filed another complaint questioning the authenticity of the televised audio clip.

The Bengaluru City Police Commissioner then instructed Additional Commissioner (East) to probe into both complaints and file a report.

The Cyber Crime Police decided to approach the Court after the two leaders refused to co-operate with their investigation. “The Investigating Officer had approached the two leaders to get their voice samples to be recorded as part of the investigation. But they refused to co-operate with us and we had to approach the Court,” a senior Police official added.

The Congress had released an edited video to counter Yeddyurappa’s allegations that Chief Minister Siddharamaiah sent Rs. 1,000 crore, which were kickbacks received from various projects in the State, including the controversial steel   flyover proposed in Bengaluru,  to the Congress top brass in Delhi.