The state Congress received a jolt on Thursday when the Lokayukta police investigating the illegal denotification of prime land here nailed its former working president and MLA D K Shivakumar.
The Lokayukta police have found prima facie evidence against the MLA and six others, including an IAS officer, based on a complaint filed against them. The investigating team, Lokayukta sleuths headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police D Palakshaiah, filed a charge-sheet with the Lokayukta Court finding prima facie case of irregularities in land denotificaiton on Thursday.
The accused faced charges of illegally denotifying four acres and 20 guntas of prime land at Benniganahalli near Indira Nagar, which was notified earlier by the BDA to form NGEF Residential Layout in 1986. The Lokayukta sleuths, however, let off two other accused — former CM B S Yeddyurappa and MLC Lehar Singh Siroya — who were named in a private complaint filed by T J Abraham in March 2012.
In their 46-page final report on the case, the Lokayukta police have named, apart from Shivakumar, IAS officer Rame Gowda, Sub-Registrar Hameed Ali, retired tahsildar Hanumanth, retired revenue inspector K C Chandrashekar and others for violating land laws and causing revenue loss. The Lokayukta Police had earlier registered an FIR against Yeddyurappa, Shivakumar and Ramegowda.
Shivakumar, then urban development minister, has been charged with purchasing land illegally when the Congress was in power and getting it denotified during the BJP government in cahoots with officials of the urban development and cooperation departments and the BDA. Gowda has been named co-accused for abetting the illegal denotification.
With this, the Lokayukta police have sought permission from Chief Secretary SV Ranganath to initiate action against the officials.