ED books CM Siddaramaiah in MUDA-linked PMLA case

 

 

THE Enforcement Directorate on Monday booked Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and some others in a money-laundering case linked to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), taking cognisance of a State Lokayukta FIR, official sources said. The federal agency has filed an enforcement case information report (ECIR) to book CM and others, they said. Siddaramaiah, his wife B M Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and Devaraju -- from whom Swamy had purchased land and gifted it to Parvathi -- and others have been named in the FIR registered by the Mysuru-located Lokayukta police establishment on September 27.

 

The FIR was lodged after a special court in Bengaluru last week ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Siddaramaiah in the case. The order of the special court judge came a day after the high court upheld the sanction granted by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to conduct an investigation against the senior Congress leader on allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by MUDA. The ED has pressed sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to book Siddaramaiah in its ECIR, the equivalent of a police FIR. According to the procedure, the Enforcement Directorate is empowered to summon the accused for questioning and even attach their assets during the investigation.

 

 

KARNATAKA Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi has written to MUDA Commissioner expressing her willingness to return the 14 sites in the Mysuru upmarket. In a letter to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) Commissioner she said she was allotted the 14 alternative sites in the third and fourth phase of Vijayanagar in Mysuru against the usage of her three acres and 16 Guntas of land in Kesare village under Kasaba Hobli in Mysuru. “I am willing to return the 14 sites by way of cancelling the sale deed. I want MUDA to acquire these sites. I request you to take step in this direction at the earliest,” Parvathi said in her letter. The letter comes against the backdrop of Karnataka Lokayukta police registering a case against Siddaramaiah on the directions of a special court in connection with the land allotment. Incidentally, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday booked the CM, Parvathi and some others in a money laundering case linked to the land allotment case, taking cognisance of the Lokayukta FIR.