Bengaluru: Lokayukta police on Friday questioned Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel H D Kumaraswamy for close to an hour and a half in connection with a land denotification case.
A top source in the Lokayukta police told DH that the minister was questioned about his role in land denotification. Kumaraswamy maintained that the denotification did not happen during his tenure as the chief minister and denied his involvement, the source said.
Kumaraswamy arrived at the Lokayukta office in the MS Building around 6 pm and left around 7:30 pm.
The case is related to 1.11 acres of land at Gangenahalli in northern Bengaluru, that was acquired by the BDA for a layout.
Speaking to reporters, Kumaraswamy said he had answered all the queries by Lokayukta police.
“I appeared before Lokayukta today regarding a 2015 case which was filed by then Siddaramaiah-led government. It was a false case and they filed it as I was raising my voice against the irregularities of the government then. Though the case was filed in 2015, why were they silent all these years,” asked Kumaraswamy. He said that he will “expose” M Chandra Sekhar, IGP (in-charge) of the Lokayukta Special Investigation Team, on Saturday.
According to Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who addressed a presser on September 19, 2007, when Kumaraswamy was the chief minister, a benami named Rajashekharaiah filed a petition seeking the denotification of the aforementioned land acquired 30 years ago.
“This Rajashekharaiah has nothing to do with this land. We still don’t know who it is,” Gowda said.
According to the minister, Kumaraswamy had asked officials to move a file on the matter. “Meanwhile, the original owner of this land had 21 heirs who gave a general power of attorney to Kumaraswamy’s mother-in-law,” he said.
In July 2010, according to the minister, the land was registered in the name of Channappa, the brother-in-law of Kumaraswamy. Yediyurappa is accused of finalising the notification in 2010, when he became the chief minister, before its registration.
“The land costs several crores. It is an asset that belonged to the BDA. It should have been used for the poor. Is this right or wrong? Is this legal or illegal? Isn’t this systematic fraud,” he asked.