‘127 days incarceration not long’: Karnataka HC denies bail to former MUDA commissioner in money laundering case

“At this stage of pre-trial proceedings, looking into the detailed narration made regarding the offence of money laundering, criminal activity in relation to scheduled offence, proceeds of crime, the Court is not in a position to record a finding that there are no reasonable grounds for believing that the petitioner is not guilty of such offence,” the court said on Tuesday.

“Though various contentions have been raised by the learned counsel appearing for the accused, suffice it to state that the contents of Prosecution Complaint could not permit negativing the prima facie role of the petitioner in the commission of offence,” the judge observed.

Noting that the ED had filed a prosecution complaint in the case against Kumar on November 14, 2025, the court stated that the accused’s plea of prolonged incarceration in prison cannot be taken as a basis for seeking bail. “However, taking note that the length of incarceration is 127 days as of now, it can be stated that it would not qualify to be long incarceration entitling the petitioner to be released on bail for the present,” the court said.

“However, liberty is reserved to the petitioner to re-approach after a period of three months directly before this Court and to make a renewed plea for bail,” the high court ruled.

The ED has said in court that its probe has revealed a large-scale scam in the allotment of MUDA sites by flouting various statutes and government orders or guidelines and by other fraudulent means. “The evidence and documents collected during the course of investigation in this case has indicated active involvement of GT Dinesh Kumar in the comprehensive money laundering scheme perpetrated at MUDA, Mysuru during his tenure as commissioner,” the ED stated.

The former MUDA commissioner is alleged to have been involved in 283 illegal land transactions worth Rs 138 crore with the proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 22.47 crore.

“The role of GT Dinesh Kumar has emerged as instrumental in illegal allotment of compensation sites to ineligible entities/individuals. The evidence with respect to obtaining bribes for making illegal allotments in the form of cash, bank transfer, movable/immovable properties have been gathered during the course of the investigation,” the ED has stated.

The modus operandi for making the alleged illegal allotments involved the identification of ineligible beneficiaries and making allotments using fake or incomplete documents, in violation of government orders, and also by back-dating allotment letters, the ED has noted.

The gratification received for making these illegal allotments was routed through a co-operative society and bank accounts of the relatives or associates of Dinesh Kumar, who played a key role in the allotment process, the agency has stated. The gratification was also used to purchase illegally allotted MUDA sites in the name of Kumar’s relatives, the ED said.

In December 2025, the Karnataka Lokayukta police had taken custody of Dinesh Kumar from the Bengaluru prison and placed him under arrest as part of its probe into allegations of corruption in the allotment of MUDA sites to Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s family in 2021.

The Lokayukta police had earlier filed a closure report or ‘B’ report in the MUDA land allotments probe against the chief minister’s family in February 2025, citing the lack of evidence to establish allegations made by an RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna that Siddaramaiah profited to the tune of Rs 56 crore after his wife received 14 MUDA housing sites in 2021 in exchange for a 3.16 acre plot that was wrongly acquired by MUDA.

Following the controversy over the allotment of the 14 housing sites the Karnataka CM’s wife had returned the 14 housing sites to MUDA. The ED had summoned the Karnataka CM’s wife for an investigation of the money laundering charges in the MUDA scam but the summons was quashed by the high court and upheld by the Supreme Court.

A special court for elected representatives has meanwhile kept in abeyance since April 2025 its decision on the acceptance or rejection of the closure report (B report) filed by the Lokayukta Police on allegations against Siddaramaiah’s family.

The court, however, allowed the Lokayukta police to continue its probe into the MUDA land allotments till filing of a final report – which was presented to the special court last week.