Karnataka Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah will be prosecuted over the alleged irregularities in site allocations by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has sanctioned his prosecution in the MUDA land scam case after petitions by three activists – Pradeep Kumar, TJ Abraham, and Snehamayi Krishna.
"As directed by the Governor, I am enclosing herewith the copy of the decision of the Competent Authority on the request of sanction for prosecution against the Chief Minister Shri Siddaramaiah, under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarika Suraksha Samhitha, 2023 for the commission of the alleged offences mention in the petitions," said a letter from the Governor's Secretariat to the activists.
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The Chief Minister's Office (CMO) has confirmed that it has received this communication.
The BJP has welcomed the Governor's go-ahead to prosecute Siddaramaiah. "By keeping enough records and evidences against the corrupt scandals of the Congress government and against the bias and corruption of the Chief Minister's relatives, Siddaramaiah has demonstrated that there is no one to shake him," said state BJP chief BY Vijayendra in an online post.
Defending him, Karnataka Congress alleged the Governor has been delaying action in probes against former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and former Karnataka ministers Sasikala Jolle and Murugesh Nirani. "But the fact that the Governor acted with alarming speed only on a baseless private complaint against the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seems to be a politically motivated conspiracy," it said.
The Governor had last month issued a "show-cause notice" to the Chief Minister, directing him to reply to the allegations against him within seven days and state why he shouldn't be prosecuted.
This sparked a resolution by the state cabinet asking the Governor not to sanction the prosecution. The Siddaramaiah-led government had also advised him to withdraw the notice and alleged "gross misuse of the Constitutional Office" of the Governor.
The Governor's notice followed a petition by anti-corruption activist TJ Abraham to prosecute Siddaramaiah over alleged irregularities in the MUDA. In his petition, he alleged the multi-crore scam caused huge losses to the state's exchequer.
In a complaint filed with the Lokayukta police in July, Mr Abraham had alleged that the allotment of 14 alternative sites in an upscale Mysuru neighbourhood to Siddaramaiah's wife BM Parvathi was illegal, which caused the exchequer a Rs 45 crore loss.
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The complaint named Siddaramaiah, wis wife, son S Yathindra, and senior MUDA officials.
Another activist, Snehamayi Krishna also alleged the involvement of Siddaramaiah, his wife, and MUDA and administrative officials in the alleged land scam. A fresh FIR was not filed as the police said probe was already underway in the case.
Siddaramiah had claimed that the land for which his wife received compensation, was gifted by her brother Mallikarjuna in 1998. But activist Krishna alleged that Mallikarjuna had procured it illegally in 2004 and got it registered it using forged documents with the help of government and revenue officials. The land was shown to have been bought in 1998. Ms Parvathi sought compensation for this land in 2014, when Siddaramaiah was Chief Minister.
The BJP, which has been demanding a CBI probe in the case, held a weeklong padayatra from Bengaluru to Mysuru earlier this month against the Congress government.
Responding to the BJP offensive, Siddaramaiah had said his wife was awarded compensation when the BJP was in power and that it was her right. "They (BJP) are the ones who gave the site, now if they call it illegal, how should one respond?" he had asked.