The Lokayukta police have summoned Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for questioning on November 6 in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case, officials said Monday.
The summons follows questioning of his wife, Parvathi B M, who is also an accused, on October 25. “We asked him to appear on Wednesday morning,” a senior Lokayukta official told PTI.
Siddaramaiah is facing allegations of irregularities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by MUDA. He, along with his wife, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy, and Devaraju — from whom Swamy purchased a land later gifted to Parvathi — were named in an FIR filed by Lokayukta police in Mysuru on September 27. Swamy and Devaraju have both appeared before Lokayukta officials.
The CM challenged Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s approval of the probe in court, but the High Court dismissed his petition on September 24. Justice M. Nagaprasanna stated that the Governor’s order did not “suffer from want of application of mind.”
On September 30, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also filed an enforcement case information report, citing the Lokayukta FIR.
The case centers on the allotment of 14 compensatory plots in an upscale area of Mysuru, which reportedly had a higher property value compared to the land Parvathi had “acquired” in Kasare village.
MUDA allotted the plots under a controversial 50:50 scheme, where land losers received half of the developed land in return for undeveloped land used for residential layouts. However, it is alleged Parvathi lacked legal ownership of the land at Kasare village.
Following the High Court’s order on October 24, a Special Court handling cases involving current and former lawmakers directed Lokayukta police to investigate and submit a report by December 24.