The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday allowed the state Lokayukta police investigation into land allotments made by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife to continue and sought a status report in court on January 27.
Justice M Nagaprasanna of the Karnataka High Court sitting on the Dharwad bench directed the Lokayukta police to place the records of the investigation to date in the corruption case filed by Snehamayi Krishna, an RTI activist, on January 27.
“The Lokayukta police investigation will continue,” the high court said. It added that an officer of the rank of inspector general of police would supervise the probe and that an officer of the rank of additional director general of police should peruse the final report on the investigations conducted by the Lokayukta police.
The high court orders came in the wake of complainant Krishna filing an application stating that the Lokayukta police were not investigating the case effectively. The complainant sought a CBI probe in the matter on the grounds that the Lokayukta police function under the purview of the state government.
Earlier, on December 19, the Karnataka High Court had indicated a stay on the Lokayukta police investigation and pushed the deadline for submission of the probe report to January 28, 2025, to a district court – instead of December 24 as stipulated by the district court on September 25.
Siddaramaiah’s counsel, however, had raised objections to the high court’s suggestion of a stay on the probe as an interjection in the investigation by the Lokayukta police. The high court subsequently posted the plea for hearing on January 15.
The case is centred around the allotment of 14 sites worth Rs 56 crore by MUDA to Siddaramaiah’s wife in 2021 when the BJP was in power. The allotment under a controversial 50:50 scheme was in exchange for the alleged illegal acquisition of 3.16 acres of land owned by her outside Mysuru city. The sites have since been returned to MUDA.
After the Karnataka High Court on September 24 last year upheld a sanction given to prosecute Siddaramaiah, the Lokayukta police registered an FIR in the matter on September 25. Subsequently, Siddaramaiah approached the high court in October 2024 seeking the setting aside of the September 24 decision and an interim stay on the operation of the order allowing the filing of an FIR for investigations against Siddaramaiah under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
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