MUDA case: Karnataka High Court stays ED notice to Siddaramaiah’s wife, says it will ‘frustrate proceedings’

The high court imposed an interim stay on the ED proceedings against Parvathi and Suresha until the next hearing, on February 10, noting that the agency’s questioning could hinder the court’s decision on whether to transfer the corruption case against Siddaramaiah and others to the CBI, as requested by an RTI activist.

The court also quashed an ED summons issued to a former MUDA official, Dr Natesh, who was not named as an accused in the FIR. Parvathi’s plea has sought to quash the case registered by the ED, arising out of the Lokayukta police case, and the summons issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Parvathi is named as accused number two in a corruption case filed by the Karnataka Lokayukta police in September 2024 over the allotment of 14 housing sites to her by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in exchange for 3.16 acres of farmland gifted by her brother. She returned the 14 sites last year, and her counsel argued that there were no proceeds of crime as alleged by the ED.

The ED has provisionally attached 142 properties worth Rs 300 crore in connection with its investigation into irregularities in MUDA land allotments, although the properties of the chief minister’s family have not been attached. Allegations of irregularities emerged following complaints from RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna, who accused Siddaramaiah’s family of profiting illegally from the housing site allotments.

Based on Krishna’s complaint, the Lokayukta police investigated the allegations and filed a status report on the investigation on Monday. Siddaramaiah has appealed against a high court order allowing the corruption probe against him, while Krishna has filed a plea for a CBI investigation.

The RTI activist also filed a complaint before the ED about irregularities in the MUDA land deals over the past few years and the agency registered an ECIR last year and carried out searches at the MUDA offices, the offices of its past and present office-bearers and land beneficiaries.

The ED said weeks ago that its investigation revealed numerous sites, beyond the 14 allotted to Parvathi, were illegally allocated by MUDA as compensation to real estate businessmen, who then sold these sites for significant profit, generating unaccounted cash. The ED stated that this profit has been laundered and misrepresented as derived from legitimate sources.

Siddaramaiah has questioned the basis for the ED’s PMLA case against him, stating, “It is difficult to understand since there is no exchange of money involved.”

“Let them do what they want as per the law. I don’t know on what grounds a money laundering case has been filed. In my view, there is no money laundering involved and most people must be seeing it that way. There is no money laundering because (the 14 housing) sites have been given as compensation,” he said in October 2024 a day after the ED filed the case against him, his wife and others.

“Also the role I have played is not clear. There is no role. As a result, my wife is hurt by the baseless allegations against me and so my wife has decided to return the sites,” he said referring to the fact that the allotment of MUDA sites occurred during the BJP government’s tenure in 2021.