Siddaramaiah arrives for Lokayukta questioning in MUDA case

Mysuru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah appeared before Lokayukta police in Mysuru on Wednesday, in the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case involving his wife B M Parvathi. It is the first inquiry he is facing in a personal case, in his 40-year-long political career.

He did not use a chopper or government vehicle to reach Mysuru. He arrived at the government guest house in a private vehicle (KA-04 MV 7666) by around 9:30 am, received the guard of honour, and had breakfast with ministers H C Mahadevappa, K Venkatesh and his legal advisor A S Ponnanna. He arrived at Lokayukta office at around 10:10 am.

Police beefed up security measures and restricted vehicular movement on roads around Lokayukta office including Dewan's Road.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders led by T S Srivatsa held a protest near Ramaswamy Circle urging the CM to resign before he faced enquiry. They were detained by police.

Lokayukta SP T J Udesh had issued a notice to him on Monday. A team of officials led by Udesh are conducting the inquiry. They are questioning about 14 alternative sites allotted by MUDA in Vijayanagar third and fourth stage in Mysuru, as compensation to his wife. She had got those sites from MUDA, for reportedly using her 3.16 acre on survey number 464 of Kesare village in Mysuru taluk, without acquiring it.

Lokayukta Police are investigating the case based on an FIR filed against Siddaramaiah and others, on September 27.

On September 25, a special court in Bengaluru for cases involving elected representatives, directed the jurisdictional Lokayukta Police in Mysuru to initiate an investigation against Siddaramaiah and others on the basis of a complaint filed by Mysuru-based RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna. The FIR mentioned Siddaramaiah as first accused and Parvathi as the second accused.

As per the complaint, Devaraju sold the land to B M Mallikarjuna Swamy on August 25, 2004. Further, it was converted from agricultural land to non-agriculture land. On October 6, 2010, Mallikarjuna Swamy gifted the land to his sister Parvathi. Parvathi submitted representations to MUDA, from 2014, seeking compensation for the said land acquired by MUDA.

On December 12, 2021, the then MUDA Commissioner D B Natesh allotted 14 sites on the alternative developed area on a 50:50 ratio.

In the wake of various developments, due to the issue, Parvathi returned all those sites to MUDA on October 1. Sub registrar at Additional District Registrar Office completed the process and released sites to MUDA on October 3.