The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a case against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in connection with a money-laundering case related to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). The case comes after the state’s Lokayukta police filed an FIR against Siddaramaiah and several others on September 27, following a directive from a special court in Bengaluru. The FIR names Siddaramaiah, his wife BM Parvathi, his brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy, and Devaraju, from whom Swamy had purchased land that was later gifted to Parvathi. The Lokayukta police were ordered by the court to investigate allegations surrounding the land dealings linked to MUDA.
The order of the special court judge came a day after the high court upheld the sanction granted by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to conduct an investigation against the senior Congress leader on allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the MUDA. The ED is expected to press sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to book Siddaramaiah in its Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR). Sources said the federal agency is studying the Lokayukta Police FIR.
According to the procedure, the ED is empowered to summon the accused for questioning and even attach their assets during the investigation. Siddaramaiah (76) had last week said he was being targeted in the MUDA issue as the opposition is "scared" of him and noted that it is the first such "political case" against him. He also reiterated that he will not resign following the court ordering a probe against him in the case as he has done no wrong and asserted that he would fight the case legally.
What is MUDA case?
In the MUDA site allotment case, it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife B M Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by the MUDA. The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where it developed a residential layout. Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts.
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