MUDA case: Bengaluru court to pronounce verdict on petition questioning clean chit to CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru: The Special Court for MLAs and MPs has reserved its order for December 18 on the petition challenging the clean chit given to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others by the Karnataka Lokayukta in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam.
The development has assumed importance amid the leadership tussle within the Congress government in the state.
During Thursday’s hearing, the Special Judge for People’s Representatives said that the court will deliver its order on December 18 regarding the “B final” (closure) report submitted by the investigating officer.
Activist Snehamayi Krishna has filed an appeal petition in this matter.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also filed a petition before the court in this regard.
The “MUDA case” refers to an alleged illegal land allotment scam involving MUDA and the family of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The case involves allegations that the Chief Minister’s wife, Parvathi, was given 14 compensatory plots in an upscale area in lieu of about 3.16 acres of land that MUDA acquired, allegedly using his political influence.
Multiple investigations, including by the Lokayukta Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), are ongoing, though there have also been court rulings impacting the cases, such as the quashing of ED proceedings against the Chief Minister’s wife and the declaration that a search by the ED was unlawful.
The Karnataka Lokayukta Police had questioned CM Siddaramaiah on November 6, 2024.
The Lokayukta Police registered an FIR in the matter based on the directions of a local court after the Karnataka High Court upheld the sanction accorded by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for an investigation into the alleged MUDA scam.
On September 27, 2024, the Mysuru unit of the Karnataka Lokayukta Police registered an FIR against CM Siddaramaiah and others on charges of corruption, cheating, and forgery on the basis of a private complaint referred to the agency by a special court for elected representatives on September 25, 2024.
The petitioner Snehamayi Krishna has also sought a CBI probe into the matter and the Karnataka High Court is looking into the matter.
CM Siddaramaiah is named as accused number one in the case and his wife Parvathi, is the second accused.