BENGALURU: The Special Court to try cases against sitting and former MPs/MLAs on Wednesday directed Lokayukta police to investigate allegations against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah involving illegal allotment of 14 compensatory sites to his wife Parvathy BM by Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA). Lokayukta police were asked to investigate the complaint and submit a report to the court within three months.
The court also directed Superintendent of Police (SP), Mysuru Division, of Karnataka Lokayukta, to register a case under the provisions of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, and Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Act, 2011.
This is in addition to provisions under Indian Penal Code sections 120B (conspiracy), 166 (disobeying law), 403 (misappropriation), 406 (breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 426 (mischief), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery of electronic record), 340 (wrongful confinement), 351 (use of criminal force) and other relevant sections of the IPC, under Section 9 (bribing public servant) and 13 (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
This comes a day after the Karnataka High Court gave its nod to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s approval to conduct a probe into the MUDA case, and the alleged illegal allotment of 14 sites to Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathy.
The special court also registered a private complaint against the Chief Minister, Parvathy, his brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy, one Devaraju J and others, in connection with the illegal allotment of compensatory sites to his wife by MUDA.
The case pertains to 14 sites worth Rs 56 crore being allotted to Parvathy in upscale Vijayanagar 3rd Stage for land acquired at Kesare village, a downmarket area on the outskirts of Mysuru, with Siddaramaiah allegedly taking undue advantage when in power.
‘Submit report in three months’
Ordering registration of the private complaint, Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat of the Special Court directed that the order be communicated to the Lokayukta SP, Mysuru Division, for conducting investigation without delay and submitting the report in three months as contemplated under Section 173 of CrPC.
On Tuesday, the HC after upholding the Governor’s approval for a probe under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Siddaramaiah, vacated the interim stay order on proceedings pending before the Special Court, which passed the order on Wednesday.
The Governor gave approval for a probe in response to complaints filed by social workers Snehamayi Krishna, TJ Abraham and advocate Pradeep Kumar SP. Siddaramaiah had moved the high court against the approval, but suffered a setback with the HC dismissing it, observing that the investigation was undoubtedly required since he was “behind the smoke screen for every benefit that has flown to his wife in terms of the sites allotted to her”.
Referring to this, the special court said the High Court had also pointed out the prima facie role of Siddaramaiah, and hence should not fight shy of any investigation. Therefore, Lokayukta police should conduct the probe and submit the report by December 24, the Special Court said.
Earlier, senior counsel Lakshmy Iyengar, representing complainant Snehamayi Krishna, produced a copy of the High Court verdict before the Special Court, and argued in favour of an investigation.
