The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday directed the Lokayukta police to submit a status report on its investigations into the alleged Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam over land allotted to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife B M Parvathi. The Karnataka High Court issued the directive while adjourning a plea filed by RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the 2021 MUDA land allotment of 14 housing sites to Siddaramaiah’s wife as compensation for the acquisition of a 3.16-acre plot. Parvati later ‘returned’ the 14 housing sites to MUDA. During the first hearing of the plea, Justice M Nagaprasanna issued notice to all the respondents, including Siddaramaiah, the state government, the Centre, the CBI, and the Lokayukta police. The high court sought a status report on the probe by November 26. Incidentally, the Karnataka Lokayukta police had on Monday issued a notice to Siddaramaiah to appear before the agency on November 6. The Lokayukta police registered an FIR in the matter based on the directions of a local court after the Karnataka High Court upheld the sanction accorded by Governor Thawarchand Gehlot for an investigation into the alleged MUDA scam. On September 27, the Mysuru unit of the Karnataka Lokayukta police registered an FIR against Siddaramaiah and others on charges of corruption, cheating, and forgery on the basis of a private complaint referred to the agency by a special court for elected representatives on September 25. Krishna had sought a probe by the “CBI/any independent investigating agency which does not come under the state government/Lokayukta Police Wing” but the special court on September 25 had referred the matter to the Lokayukta police. Though Krishna had insisted that he would seek a CBI probe in the case, last month, the Karnataka government decided at a cabinet meeting to withdraw open consent for the central agency to probe cases in the state. Meanwhile, an appeal filed by Siddaramaiah against the decision of a single judge to allow a probe into the alleged MUDA scam is pending in the high court. The background of the case Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his family members are accused of benefiting from a Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land exchange scheme where a 3.16-acre plot outside Mysuru, which was gifted to Siddaramaiah’s wife B M Parvathi by her brother in 2010, was exchanged for 14 housing sites in a prime locality in Mysuru under a 50:50 exchange scheme created during the BJP regime from 2019 to 2023. The alleged illegal land exchange is reported to have caused a loss of Rs 56 crore to the state, according to activists Snehamayi Krishna, T J Abraham, and Pradeep Kumar. In July, Krishna, Abraham and Kumar obtained Governor Thawarchand Gehlot’s approval under Section 17 A of the Prevention of Corruption Act for an investigation against Siddaramaiah in the alleged MUDA scam. The high court upheld the governor’s decision. Apart from Siddaramaiah, the others named in the FIR registered by the Mysuru Lokayukta police on the basis of Krishna’s complaint are Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy, and a former landowner Devaraju. Following the high court order, a special court for elected representatives on September 25 referred the private complaints to the police wing of the Lokayukta for investigation. The high court, while rejecting Siddaramaiah’s petition, had said: “It is difficult to accept that CM Siddaramaiah was not “behind the curtain” during the entire transaction of MUDA land, in which his family allegedly benefitted approximately Rs 56 crores.” Meanwhile, on September 28, soon after the Directorate of Enforcement began a money laundering probe in the alleged MUDA scam, Parvathi wrote to MUDA, asking it to cancel the sale deeds of the alternate sites allotted to her. The MUDA accepted the letter and cancelled the deal. Following the court verdicts, the Opposition BJP has stepped up protests demanding Siddaramaiah’s resignation. The Karnataka chief minister, however, has remained defiant. The Congress has backed him saying the cases are motivated.
