BENGALURU: Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Saturday clarified that allegations of encroachment of government land at Kethaganahalli village near Bidadi in Ramanagara district, against Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, will be investigated as per the Karnataka High Court’s instructions.
“A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has also been formed and I have told officials to follow the High Court’s instructions. When the High Court gives an instruction, the government will have to respect it. The SIT will submit its report within the timeframe given by the high court,” he told reporters at Vidhana Soudha.
It may be noted here that the state government has constituted a five-member SIT headed by Bengaluru Regional Commissioner Amlan Aditya Biswas to probe allegations of land encroachment against Kumaraswamy.
There was an allegation that 14.04 acres of government land on survey numbers 8, 9, 10, 16 and 79 in Kethaganahalli village were being encroached.
Based on former Mandya MP late G Made Gowda’s complaint against Kumaraswamy and former minister DC Thammanna, the Karnataka Lokayukta had ordered recovery of land in 2014.
As no action was initiated, the Samaja Parivarthana Samudaya, an NGO, had filed a contempt case against the government in the HC in 2020.