MUDA scam: Hours after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday booked Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a money-laundering case, his wife has offered to surrender 14 plots of land allotted to her by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). In a letter addressed to the MUDA Commissioner, BM Parvathi stated her intention to return the plots, which were allocated to her in exchange for 3 acres and 16 guntas of land at a different location.
"I wish to surrender and return the compensatory plots by cancelling the deeds of 14 plots executed in my favour by the Mysore Urban Development Authority. I am also handing over the possession of the plots back to the Mysore Urban Development Authority. Kindly take the necessary steps in this regard as soon as possible," Siddaramaiah's wife wrote in the letter.
ED books Karnataka CM
Earlier in the day, the Enforcement Directorate booked Siddaramaiah and some others in the money-laundering case linked to the MUDA, taking cognisance of a recent state Lokayukta FIR. The FIR was lodged after a special court in Bengaluru last week ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Siddaramaiah in the case. 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 Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
The ED has invoked sections of the PMLA in an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), similar to a police First Information Report (FIR), against Siddaramaiah. As per legal procedures, the ED is authorised to summon Siddaramaiah for questioning and may also attach his assets during the course of the investigation. In a statement last week, Siddaramaiah responded to the allegations, claiming that he was being unjustly targeted in the case as a result of political vendetta.
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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