Land scam FIR is politically motivated, claims Ashok

Claiming that ACB had registered a case against him to settle political scores and tarnish his image and impact his prospects in the Assembly polls, former deputy CM and senior BJP leader R Ashok has

BENGALURU: Claiming that ACB had registered a case against him to settle political scores and tarnish his image and impact his prospects in the Assembly polls, former deputy CM and senior BJP leader R Ashok has moved the High Court challenging the FIR registered in the bagair hukum land scam.
In the petition filed three days after the case was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC, Ashok sought the court to quash the complaint dated January 3 and the FIR dated January 8. His petition is likely to come up for hearing next week.

On Monday, the ACB registered an FIR against Uttarahalli MLA Ashok, who was then chairman of Bengaluru South Taluk Bagair Hukum Land Regularisation Committee from 1998 to 2006. He was accused of being a beneficiary and sanctioning land even to those who were not eligible.

Ashok contended that other members of the committee were not named in the FIR as they belong to Congress and he has been singled out, although the entire committee decided on the applications for land grant. It showed the complaint was politically motivated and sponsored, he said, alleging that ACB registered the FIR only to harass him.

Ashok contended that a complaint dated May 27, 2013, filed before the Lokayukta was on the same issue, and under probe. Now, a complaint dated November 9, 2017, filed before the ACB and also on a similar issue is the work of members of the Congress. There is no provision in law to continue two parallel investigations on the issue, he said.

“I did not abuse my official position. Congress constituted the ACB to have full control over the investigating agency. ACB is abusing power,” Ashok claimed.

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