The Lokayukta Police on Friday registered a first information report against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in connection with an alleged land scam, PTI reported.
The chief minister’s wife BM Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and an individual named Devaraju have also been named in the case.
On Wednesday, a special court in Bengaluru had ordered a Lokayukta police investigation against Siddaramaiah after the Karnataka High Court upheld the sanction granted by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to prosecute him.
The alleged scam pertains to the allotment of 14 high-value housing sites in Mysuru’s Vijaynagar area to Parvathi, the chief minister’s wife, in 2021 by the Mysore Urban Development Authority under a state government scheme. This was allegedly done in exchange for 3.16 acres of land that she owned in another part of the city. The land was allegedly illegally acquired from Dalit families.
Mallikarjuna Swamy had allegedly bought the land from Devaraju and then gifted it to Parvathi.
After the High Court upheld the sanction to prosecute Siddaramaiah on September 24, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) have been demanding that he step down as the chief minister. However, he has rejected calls for his resignation, describing the allegations as politically motivated.
On Friday, Siddaramaiah questioned the moral right of the BJP to seek his resignation when Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy is out on bail, The Hindu reported. He was referring to a case from 2007 in which Kumaraswamy was accused of illegally approving a mining lease in the Bellary district when he was the chief minister. He was arrested in 2015, but was later released on bail.
The Janata Dal (Secular) is an ally of the BJP in Karnataka.
Siddaramaiah said on Friday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi also did not resign as the Gujarat chief minister after the communal riots in 2002. “The BJP is seeking my resignation only to destabilise the Congress government in Karnataka,” he alleged.
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