Karnataka: ED files case against Siddaramaiah in MUDA case

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has been under severe pressure to resign in the MUDA scam case, is in trouble after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a case of money laundering against him, his wife, and two others, according to the latest media reports.

News reports said an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) was registered on Monday (September 30) evening.  This will be based on an FIR registered by the Karnataka Lokayukta in the case.

The Karnataka Lokayukta police had on Friday (September 28) booked the Karnataka CM and three others, his wife B M Parvathi, his brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and a former landowner named Devaraju, on charges of corruption, cheating and forgery in connection with the alleged allotment of 14 Mysore Urban Development Authority housing sites to his wife in 2021.

Also, after the FIR was filed, the complainant in the case, RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna, had also approached the ED for further action.

In Siddaramaiah's case, the ball was set rolling when, on September 24, the high court upheld governor Thawarchand Gehlot's approval for three private individuals to file cases against the CM under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The allegation against Karnataka CM and his family members are that they benefited from the MUDA 50:50 land exchange scheme during the BJP regime.

According to the allegation, 3.16 acres of land outside Mysuru, which was gifted to Siddaramaiah’s wife by her brother in 2010, was allegedly exchanged for 14 housing sites in a prime locality in Mysuru. 

The alleged illegal land exchange reportedly caused a loss of ₹56 crore to the state, complained activists who approached the governor and the special court.

Siddaramaiah has dismissed the allegations as a BJP conspiracy to oust him out of power in the state. While the Congress has said that they support the CM and stand by him even as the BJP demanded his resignation.