The judge also instructed the Lokayukta Police to continue their investigation and “submit the final report” before the court takes any further action.
Bengaluru: A special court in Bengaluru has postponed its decision on a petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging the “B report” submitted by the Lokayukta Police in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land scam case, which involves Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The court, headed by Judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat, clearly stated that it “would not give a decision on the petition until the final report of the Lokayukta Police is filed.“
The judge also instructed the Lokayukta Police to continue their investigation and “submit the final report” before the court takes any further action.
In the initial “B report,” the Lokayukta Police had stated that there was no sufficient evidence against the Chief Minister, his wife Parvati, her brother Mallikarjuna Swamy, and the original landowner Devaraju. Because of this, they were all given a clean chit.
But the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has strongly opposed this report. The ED has filed a petition asking for a more detailed investigation and urged the court not to accept the “B report” as final. The agency wants the case to be looked into more deeply to uncover any hidden irregularities.
Apart from the Chief Minister and his close family members, the Lokayukta Police is already investigating over 130 other individuals who might be involved in the alleged scam.
Earlier, the Lokayukta Police had submitted a preliminary report focusing only on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvati, her brother Mallikarjuna Swamy, and land seller Devaraju. However, the special court clearly said that the investigation should not be limited to just a few people.
The court ordered that “the investigation should not be limited to just four individuals” and that the Lokayukta Police must “investigate everyone connected to the case and file a comprehensive report.”
The next hearing in this high-profile case is scheduled for May 7.
What Is the MUDA Land Case?
This case is related to serious allegations of illegal land allotment involving the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). It is alleged that 14 premium sites in Mysuru were wrongly allotted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife, Parvati.
As per the complaint, MUDA took land from Parvati and, in return, allotted her plots located in upmarket areas of Mysuru. However, many activists and opposition leaders claim that the value of the new plots was much higher than the original land taken by MUDA. This, they argue, caused a big financial loss to the state government.
Social activists have claimed that the unfair land deal has resulted in a loss of nearly Rs 45 crore to the Karnataka state exchequer.
ALSO READ: Karnataka Lokayukta Gives Clean Chit to CM Siddaramaiah and Family in MUDA Case
The First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Lokayukta Police on September 27 names not only Mr. Siddaramaiah and his wife but also Mallikarjuna Swamy (Parvati’s brother), Devaraju (the person who sold land to Swamy), and other unknown persons.
The FIR claims that Devaraju had sold a piece of land to Mallikarjuna Swamy, who later gifted it to Parvati Siddaramaiah. This land then became the basis for the compensatory allotment by MUDA.
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