BENGALURU: In a relief to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, a Special Court in Bengaluru accepted the ‘B’ report filed by Karnataka Lokayukta police, giving a clean chit to him, his wife BM Parvathi, her brother Mallikarjuna Swamy and J Devaraju in a case of alleged irregularities in the allotment of 14 compensatory sites worth Rs 56 crore to Parvathi by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
The court, however, held that Directorate of Enforcement (ED), probing the money laundering angle under the provisions of the PMLA, has the right to intervene in the case as the aggrieved party to a limited extent.
Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, judge of the Special Court for the trial of criminal cases against sitting and former MPs/MLAs, pronounced the operative portion of the order, rejecting the application filed by the complainant, Snehamayi Krishna, a social activist from Mysuru.
The judge stated, “The ‘B’ Report filed by the Investigating Officer against accused No. 1 Siddaramaiah, accused No. 2 B M Parvathi, accused No. 3 Mallikarjuna Swamy and accused No. 4 J Devaraj, is hereby accepted. Needless to mention, the further investigation being conducted by the Investigating Officer against other accused persons should continue, and he shall file the Final Report on completion of the investigation. The application filed by the complainant to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Investigating Officer is hereby rejected.”
The special court directed the office to return the case diary and also the draft copy of the final report kept in a sealed cover to the investigating officer and adjourned further hearing to February 9 for filing the final report.