Special court accepts closure report in MUDA case against Siddaramaiah, kin: What this means for Karnataka CM

The Lokayukta police had filed the ‘B’ or closure report in February 2025, claiming lack of evidence to establish allegations of corruption against Siddaramaiah, his wife B M Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjun Swamy and a former landowner, J Devaraj.

However, the report was kept in abeyance for the Lokayukta police to complete investigations into larger allegations of corruption in MUDA land allotments. On January 13, the Lokayukta police provided the court a draft copy of its final report in the larger probe.

In its order Wednesday, the special court said: “The ‘B’ Report filed by the Investigating Officer against accused No.1 Sri Siddaramaiah, accused No.2 Smt B M Parvathi, accused No.3 Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy and accused No.4 Sri J Devaraj, is hereby accepted.”

However, it directed police to continue investigations against the other accused and told the Lokayukta to file a final report on the same.

The allegations against the CM and his family were made by an RTI activist, Snehamayi Krishna, in a private complaint, which were registered as an FIR after sanction by Governor Thawarchand Gehlot in September 2024.

Krishna alleged that Siddaramaiah had profited to the tune of ₹56 crore after his wife received 14 housing sites from MUDA in 2021, in exchange for a 3.16-acre plot. After the controversy broke, Paravthi returned the 14 housing sites to MUDA.

In February 2025, after the Karnataka Lokayukta police filed a closure report in the case, Krishna and the ED had challenged the same, with Krishna seeking a CBI probe in the matter.

The ED claimed that its probe revealed a large-scale scam in the allotment of MUDA sites, with various statutes and government orders and guidelines being flouted.

However, the ED’s summons to Parvathi and Karnataka Urban Development Minister B S Suresh in the matter in March 2025 were quashed by the High Court, emphasizing that an individual cannot be compelled to give a statement in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case when no incriminating material has been found against them. This order was upheld by the Supreme Court.

But, the special court allowed the ED to continue its investigations under the PMLA in the case. Following this, in November, the ED filed a prosecution complaint against former MUDA commissioner G T Dinesh Kumar. Kumar, who was first arrested by the ED in September 2025, was held by the Lokayukta police in December.

The petitioner Krishna also sought contempt of court proceedings against the Investigating Officer over “delays” in the probe. The special court had set a two-month deadline for filing of the final report by the Lokayukta, which expired in December.

But the special court on Wednesday rejected this plea.

Judicial commission report

Apart from the Lokayukta report, a judicial commission set up by the Siddaramaiah government to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration in MUDA submitted a report in September 2025 holding that there was no wrongdoing by the CM’s family in the case.

However, the commission said it had found large-scale irregularities in the functioning of MUDA in the 2020-2024 period (overlapping with when the BJP was in power), and recommended investigation against MUDA officials as well as the cancellation of site allotments done by the authority after March 2023, when a scheme was introduced for allotment of alternative sites as compensation for land acquired by MUDA.

The panel said the scheme was filled with loopholes and seemed devised to benefit illegal claimants. The sudden emergence of demands for alternative sites in 2020-24 period as compensation for MUDA-acquired properties “may be with intention to get some better sites of their choice with the help and connivance of MUDA Officers and officials”, the commission said.