MUDA scam: Police complaint filed against Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s wife

The land allotment controversy is in the spotlight on account of Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah‘s wife being a beneficiary of a MUDA decision in 2021, during the BJP tenure, to allot 38,284 sq feet of land — amounting to 14 prime housing sites — as compensation for alleged illegal acquisition of 3.16 acre of her land.

While the police have not registered any FIR, a police officer said that as the complaint is of civil nature, they have sent the letter to the Commissioner of the Urban Development Department as a probe is already underway.

What does the complaint say

In the complaint filed by Krishna, he alleged that Parvathi, Swamy and Devaraju created fabricated documents to defraud crores of rupees belonging to the MUDA. In the complaint, Krishna has also alleged that then Mysuru district commissioner, tahsildar, deputy registrar, MUDA commissioner and other government officials were involved in allotting 14 prime housing sites to Parvathi in Mysuru.

He also said that letters have been written to the governor, chief secretary, and principal secretary of the Revenue Department.

The BJP in Karnataka has demanded a Central Investigation Bureau (CBI) probe into the matter while Home Minister G Parameshwara said there is no need for a CBI probe or the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct the probe.

He said, “There is no question of covering up anything and the chief minister himself has issued clarification. There is no need for any probe, such as by the SIT.”

HD Kumaraswamy raises questions

His statement came after Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel HD Kumaraswamy alleged that the Karnataka Congress government was trying to cover up the alleged irregularities.

Kumaraswamy had said, “Urban Development Minister Byrati Suresh had stated that there was no scam or irregularities. In that case, why did senior officials including the deputy commission be transferred suddenly? Why did Suresh go to Mysuru in a special helicopter to bring files and documents,” he said.

Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA R Ashoka has also demanded a CBI probe where he said that the MUDA had shown undue favour in allocating high value land to the chief minister.

Last week, Siddaramaiah dismissed the allegations of the BJP and said that it was just politically motivated and not based on any facts.

“The BJP’s actions are driven solely by instructions from the RSS. Shouldn’t we question if the MUDA is creating plots and distributing them on our 3.16-acre land? If so, they should provide the land’s value, which is estimated at Rs 60 crore. They have also acknowledged in the meeting that our land has been encroached upon. As an alternative, plots have been allotted in a 50:50 ratio, to which we have agreed. We did not specify a particular location for the land allocation,” he stated.

‘BJP was in power’

“The BJP was in power in 2021 when the plots were allotted. How can it be claimed to be illegal now? We did not request plots in Vijayanagara 3rd or 4th stage. Instead, we agreed to the 50:50 plot allotment,” the CM added, labelling the allegations as politically motivated.