ED files money laundering case against Siddaramaiah in land ‘scam’

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday filed a case against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others in a money laundering case related to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land scam.
While taking cognisance of a recent state Lokayukta FIR, the central probe agency has filed an enforcement case information report (ECIR) to book Siddaramaiah and others.
Siddaramaiah, along with his wife BM Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy, and Devaraju — who sold land to Swamy, which was later gifted to Parvathi — have been named in an FIR registered by the Mysuru-based Lokayukta police on September 27.
The FIR was registered after a special court in Bengaluru last week directed a Lokayukta police investigation against Karnataka Chief Minister in the case.
The instructions from the special court came a day after the High Court upheld the sanction authorised by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to conduct a probe against the Chief Minister on the allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 locations to his wife by the MUDA.
The probe agency has invoked sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to book Siddaramaiah in its ECIR, the equivalent of a police FIR. As per procedure, the ED is authorised to summon the accused for questioning and may attach their assets during the investigation.
Siddaramaiah, 76, recently stated that he was being targeted in the MUDA case because the opposition was “scared” of him. He noted that this was the first “political case” against him and reiterated that he would not resign despite the court’s order for an investigation. He maintained his innocence and vowed to fight the case legally.
In the MUDA site-allotment case, it is alleged that compensatory sites, located in a more valuable area of Mysuru, were allotted to Siddaramaiah’s wife in exchange for land “acquired” by MUDA.