MUDA case: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s wife surrenders 14 sites allotted to her
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathy on Monday surrendered 14 sites allotted to her by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA). In a letter to the MUDA commissioner, she said that the decision is her own. She asked the MUDA commissioner to take immediate measures to cancel the title deeds.
This came after the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against Siddaramaiah, Parvathy and others in the MUDA illegal site allotment case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, at the ED’s Bengaluru zonal office.
An ECIR is similar to a First Information Report (FIR), but it is not required to be shared with the accused. It opens the doors for attachment of assets belonging to the CM and his family, besides some other coercive measures during the process of investigation.
Sources, on condition of anonymity, said the ECIR has been registered based on the FIR registered by the Mysuru unit of Karnataka Lokayukta last weekend against Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathy, his brother-in-law (Parvathy’s brother) Mallikarjuna Swamy and a former landowner — Devaraju — from whom Swamy had purchased land and gifted it to Parvathy. The Lokayukta case was filed on charges of corruption, cheating and forgery in connection with the allotment of 14 MUDA housing sites in upscale Vijayanagar area of Mysuru to Parvathy in 2021 after the original three acres 16 guntas site in down-market Kesare outside of Mysuru city limits was acquired by MUDA to develop a layout.
Earlier on Monday, RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna had lodged a formal complaint with the ED, urging them to investigate the allegations against Siddaramaiah of misusing power and the illegal allotment of MUDA sites in favor of his wife. The complaint, spanning 16 pages, a copy of which is available with TNIE highlights a purported Rs 55.8 crore gain by Siddaramaiah’s family through questionable means. Krishna has alleged that there were ingredients of money laundering by the CM and his family members. He has urged the ED officials to take cognizance of the offences of money laundering and investigate the case.
The FIR by Lokayukta police on its part invoked various sections of the earlier criminal code — the Indian Penal Code (IPC) — such as 120B (criminal conspiracy), 166 (public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person), 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 426 (mischief), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 340 (wrongful confinement) and 351 (assault).
The Lokayukta police filed the FIR on the direction of the special court hearing cases against current or former elected representatives on September 25 on the basis of a private complaint by RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna.
On September 24, the Karnataka High Court had upheld the approval given by Governor Thawarchand Gehlot to the three private individuals/complainants to file cases against the Siddaramaiah under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah has already refused to resign following the court’s order to conduct a probe against him, saying he had done nothing wrong, and that he would fight the case legally. Speaking about his predicament last week, Siddaramaiah had said he was being targeted by the opposition, and alleged that it was because they were scared of him.
