BENGALURU: Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundurao and Wakf Minister Qamarul Islam, facing charges of land grab, are likely to get reprieve from the Karnataka Lokayukta.
According to sources in the Lokayukta, the Lokayukta police, investigating the alleged land grabbing by Dinesh,found that they have no case against him as the alleged encroachment of land took place in the early 1980s when his father Gundu Rao was the Chief Minister and Dinesh was not a public servant.
Dinesh is under fire from the Opposition BJP, and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is being pressured to drop him from the ministry after Bangalore North Tahsildar recently submitted a report to the Lokayukta stating that Dinesh’s family had grabbed revenue land to the extent of 10.9 acres in Navarathna Agrahara in Jaala hobli, near Yelahanka.
After receiving a representation from SR Hiremath and others on the issue in July this year, Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao had directed the Lokayukta police to investigate the alleged land grabbing by the minister.
As per the Karnataka Lokayukta Act 1984, the Lokayukta can act against any allegations or grievances relating to the conduct of public servants.
Reacting to the alleged dilemma faced by the Karnataka Lokayukta on its jurisdiction in the Dinesh case, Hiremath said that “the land continued to be in the illegal possession of Dinesh when he got elected to the Karnataka Assembly.” He said he had approached the Lokayukta in the interests of cleansing the public life. According to sources, Lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao, to whom the investigating police have submitted a report,is expected to take a call soon on whether to proceed with the case or drop it. When contacted, Dinesh, pleading ignorance over the Lokayukta’s stand, maintained, “I have not misused my position either as an MLA or a minister in the alleged land dispute with the revenue department.”
Similarly, the Lokayukta police are also in a dilemma on continuing with their probe into a complaint that wakf minister Qamarul Islam has allegedly appropriated wakf land.
The Lokayukta police have now realised that the minister had faced similar charges earlier and the Gulbarga Lokayukta police had submitted a ‘B’ report and closed the case.
Speaking to Express, Qamarul Islam said that the complainant had kept the Lokayukta in the dark about the facts. “The BJP leaders, who are seeking my resignation from the cabinet, are raking up the issue with political motives,” he said.