The Karnataka High Court on Monday reserved its judgment on petitions seeking transfer of investigation into the alleged scam in the allotment of pricey plots to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s family in Mysuru to the CBI or any other independent agency.
The Lokayutka Police are investing an FIR they registered on Sep 27 in Mysuru against the CM, his wife BM Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjuja Swamy and landowner Devaraju in a case of alleged unlawful allotment of 14 housing plots in the same city to CM’s wife. The allotments were made by Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and the FIR names Siddaramaiah as the first accused.Judge M Nagaprasanna, after hearing the petition filed by activist Snehamayi Krishna, extended the deadline for the Lokayukta Police to complete investigations and submit its findings to the special court till the disposal of the writ petition.The petitioners, who first complained to the Governor Thawarchand Gehlot requesting sanction against the CM, last year, have expressed lack of confidence in the Lokayukta probe on the grounds that its police wing comes directly under the administrative purview of the CM and hence cannot be expected to conduct an impartial probe.
The Lokayukta police also submitted their interim findings in a sealed cover to the High Court before the judge extended the period for investigations. The investigation arises from a private complaint the activists filed before a special court in Bengaluru against MUDA allotting the plots in return for 3.16 acres of land it acquired in Kesare village on the city outskirts.
The CM’s wife and Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh got relief from the high court on Monday after they petitioned the court seeking relief from the summons issued by the enforcement directorate (ED) seeking their appearance before the investigators in the same case. The court granted interim stay on the ED notice.The ED is also separately probing the case of all allotments by MUDA on 50:50 basis in Mysuru after it registered an enforcement case information report (ECIR) in September into the complaints of widespread irregularities in the government body in the allotment of pricey housing plots.