Karnataka HC adjourns hearing on petition seeking CBI probe in MUDA scam till Jan 27

PTI, Jan 15, 2025, 12:16 PM IST

Karnataka High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing into the plea to transfer MUDA scam case to the CBI, till January 27.

Justice M Nagaprasanna who heard the petition filed by activist Snehamayi Krishna seeking a CBI probe into the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allocation scam directed Lokayukta to submit the investigation report to court by January 27.

Senior Advocate Ravivarma Kumar, Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, while Maninder Singh represented the petitioner.

During the argument, Singh alleged that original files are missing from Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

The court said, “We will deal with everything. But first the Lokayukta had to give details of everything on record so far. All details of the investigation made so far.” Finally the court directed Lokayukta to submit the investigation report to court by January 27.

In the MUDA case, it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi B M in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been “acquired” by the MUDA.

The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where it developed a residential layout.

Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts.

Karnataka Lokayukta police have booked a case against Siddaramaiah, Parvathi, his brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and others. Simultaneously, the Directorate of Enforcement have launched an investigation into the alleged scam on Krishna’s complaint.

The Chief Minister has denied any wrongdoing in the alleged scam.