A day after the Karnataka High Court rejected his plea challenging the sanction against him by the governor, troubles mounted for Siddaramaiah as a special court in Bengaluru on Wednesday directed the state Lokayukta to investigate the alleged irregularities in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land scam case.
Judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat directed the Lokayukta office at Mysuru to initiate an investigation under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on the complaint filed by Snehamayi Krishna, one of the three complainants in the case, Bar and Bench reported.
The judge asked the Lokayukta to file a report on its probe before the Court within three months and passed an order, directing the competent authorities to file an FIR in the case.
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The court’s action came a day after the Karnataka High Court dealt a huge blow to Siddaramaiah, dismissing his plea challenging the legality of the Governor’s approval for an investigation against him in the MUDA case.
The Governor’s prosecution sanction was granted in July following complaints by three activists – TJ Abraham, Snehamai Krishna and Pradeep Kumar SP – against Siddaramaiah in the MUDA case.
Siddaramaiah had challenged the approval for an investigation under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.
Following the high court’s verdict, the BJP has also demanded Siddaramaiah’s resignation while the Congress has called it a “conspiracy”.
Also Read: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah to be prosecuted in MUDA scam case, says report
The complainants have alleged that Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi received 14 housing sites from MUDA in exchange for a 3.16-acre plot of land that MUDA illegally acquired in 2021 during the previous BJP-led government’s tenure. This allegedly resulted in a Rs. 55.80 crore loss for the state.