Crime Today News
A Karnataka court on Tuesday allowed the state’s Lokayukta police to conduct further investigation into an alleged land scam involving Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, The Indian Express reported.
However, it deferred its decision on a closure report submitted by the anti-corruption ombudsman in February that found “no evidence” against the Congress leader.
Special judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat said that the question of whether to accept the report would be kept pending till the Lokayukta Police filed its final report, the Deccan Herald reported.
The alleged scam pertains to the allotment of 14 high-value housing sites in Mysuru’s Vijaynagar area to Siddaramaiah’s wife, Parvathi, in 2021 by the Mysore Urban Development Authority under a state government scheme.
This was allegedly done in exchange for 3.1 acres of land that Parvathi owned in another part of the city. The land was allegedly illegally acquired from Dalit families.
On September 25, a special court in Bengaluru ordered a Lokayukta police investigation against Siddaramaiah after the Karnataka High Court upheld the sanction granted by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to prosecute him.
On September 27, the Lokayukta police registered a first information report against Siddaramaiah, Parvathi, her brother Mallikarjuna Swamy and a person named Devaraju.
Swamy had reportedly purchased the land in question from Devaraju and gifted it to Parvathi.
On October 1, Parvathi offered to return the 14 plots in question. This came after the Enforcement Directorate booked Siddaramaiah under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with the alleged scam.
While the Lokayukta Police said in its closure report that it found no evidence against Siddaramaiah, it alleged that the 50:50 site allotment policy followed by former Mysuru Urban Development Authority commissioner DB Natesh and his predecessors led to substantial losses to the state exchequer, according to the Deccan Herald. The anti-corruption ombudsman sought permission to investigate their actions.
The Enforcement Directorate had filed a protest petition against the Lokayukta Police’s closure report. The court on Tuesday said it would not get into whether the agency could be permitted to file the protest petition, since it had not yet decided on the closure report.
However, the judge allowed the Enforcement Directorate to continue its investigation into the allegations related to the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
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