Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Bengaluru, Oct 9 (IANS) An additional city civil and sessions court in Bengaluru on Thursday ordered the Karnataka Lokayukta to complete the investigation within two months in connection with the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA). In this the demand for changing the investigating officer was also rejected.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been named as accused number one and his wife as accused number two in the case. Activist Snehamoyi Krishna is the complainant in this case. Petitioner Krishna has challenged the clean chit given to CM Siddaramaiah and his family members in the case and has demanded change of the investigating officer in the case.
The court order said: “An application was filed by the complainant under Section 156 (3) of CrPC requesting the court to issue directions to the investigating agency i.e. Karnataka Lokayukta to replace the investigating officer, which has been dismissed.”
The court further said, “Keeping in view the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, the investigating agency is directed to complete the investigation as expeditiously as possible within the outer limit of two months from today without seeking additional time for filing the comprehensive report.”
However, the court has fixed November 15 as the date for giving the final report.
The MUDA case pertains to the alleged illegal allotment of 14 sites under a 50:50 ratio scheme to the chief minister’s wife in exchange for 3.16 acres of land gifted by her third accused brother. It is alleged that the Chief Minister’s wife had no legal right to this 3.16 acre land.
The special court directed to file PCR on September 25, 2024. The Lokayukta police in Mysore had registered an FIR against Siddaramaiah, his family members and others. ED registered the case on October 1, 2024 and investigation was initiated under PMLA.
Lokayukta had filed a closure report against CM Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvati, brother-in-law Mallikarjunaswamy and land owner J Devaraju.
The Karnataka High Court on March 7 quashed the summons issued by the ED to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife, BM Parvathi, and state Urban Development Minister Birthi Suresh in connection with the MUDA case.
Petitioner Snehamoyi Krishna filed a complaint with the Central Vigilance Committee (CVC) commissioner on March 12 against senior IPS officers serving in the Karnataka Lokayukta, raising questions over the clean chit given to the CM and his family members.
The petitioner had also filed a writ petition before a division bench of the Karnataka High Court, questioning the single bench order rejecting his appeal for a CBI probe in the MUDA case.
The ED lodged an objection to the closure report on April 2 and petitioner Snehamoyi Krishna also filed a petition in the court questioning the Lokayukta’s investigation.
“The investigation revealed illegalities in land acquisition, allotment, generation of proceeds of crime and its routing/layering, undue influence in allotment,” the probe agency said in its objections.
“The evidence/information collected during the investigation under PMLA, 2002 was shared with the Lokayukta Police, Mysore through a letter. Presently, the Lokayukta has filed a report in this regard. A perusal of the report reveals evidence of illegalities in the process of denotification, considering 3 acres 16 guntas of land in Survey No. 464 of Kesare village shared by this Directorate to the Lokayukta Police. no Has been done. Report,” the ED had said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its official statement on September 18 said the investigation into the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam has unearthed a large-scale scam in the allotment of MUDA sites, an official ED release on Thursday said.
The ED also said that it is pertinent to mention that the ED has so far already attached 252 illegally allotted MUDA sites with a market value of around Rs 400 crore.
The statement further said that the ED investigation has unearthed a large-scale scam in the allotment of MUDA sites by violating various laws and government orders/guidelines and by other fraudulent means.
–IANS
MKA/PGH