Karnataka High Court on Monday stayed the notice issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to chief minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi B.M. and state urban development minister Byrathi Suresh to appear for questioning in connection with the Muda land allotment scam.
The Karnataka Lokayukta, which is probing the case simultaneously, submitted its probe report to the high court’s Dharwad bench on Monday. Siddaramaiah and his wife Parvathi are the first and second accused in the case.
Talking to reporters in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah had confirmed that his wife had received the ED notice under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Act. He said Parvathi had
been asked to appear at the ED’s regional office in Shanti Nagar on Tuesday while Suresh was asked to depose on Monday.
Karnataka deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar on Monday flagged the simultaneous investigation of the same case by two agencies.
“The courts have repeatedly ruled that when the Lokayukta is investigating a case, other agencies cannot intervene. In my case, both the CBI and the ED were investigating simultaneously. Two agencies cannot investigate the same case together,” Shivakumar said.
In the site allotment case, it is alleged that the Mysuru Development Authority (Muda) allotted 14 housing plots to Parvathi in an upmarket area in exchange for 3.16 acres of her land in Kesare village that the agency acquired to develop residential colonies. When the issue snowballed into a controversy, Parvathi returned the 14 sites to Muda.
Congress sources expressed fear that there were chances of the Lokayukta giving a clean chit to Siddaramaiah, which prompted the BJP to issue a threat to launch protests against the chief minister and his family members.