MUDA case: Special Court adjourns order on plea against Lokayukta’s closure report on CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru: The Special Court for MLAs and MPs in Bengaluru has adjourned the matter of passing orders on the petition questioning the closure report against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his wife in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case, to October 8. The court had earlier scheduled the matter for Monday.
Activist Snehamyi Krishna has submitted a petition in this regard. In his petition, he has demanded that the ‘B’ final report or closure report filed by the Lokayukta authorities should be rejected, and he should be given an opportunity to prove the allegations. The petitioner also demanded that the Investigating Officer be replaced alleging that he had submitted a false report and action should be taken against him.
The petition further demanded that directions should be issued to file separate cases according to the survey numbers in the MUDA case.
Earlier, the Special Court for MLAs and MPs, while giving its order on April 15 on the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) objection to the closure report in the MUDA case involving the Karnataka CM, his wife B.M Parvati, his brother-in-law Mallikarjunaswamy and others, stated that the decision in this regard could be made after the completion of the probe by the Karnataka Lokayukta.
The ED, in its petition, had urged the court not to accept the closure report filed by Karnataka Lokayukta in the interest of justice and issue necessary directions as deemed fit for investigation in the case.
The Karnataka Lokayukta had earlier submitted a closure report citing a lack of evidence against them.
The MUDA case is related to the alleged illegal allotment of 14 sites to the Chief Minister’s wife under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of land gifted to her by her brother, the third accused in the case. It is alleged that the Chief Minister’s wife had no legal title to this 3.16 acres of land.
The Special Court directed the filing of the PCR on September 25, 2024. The Lokayukta police in Mysuru had filed an FIR naming Siddaramaiah, his family members and others. The ED registered a case on October 1, 2024, and an investigation under the PMLA was taken up.
The Karnataka High Court on March 7 quashed the summons issued by the ED to B.M. Parvati and state Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh in connection with the case.