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Lokayukta police to question former Muda chiefs in site allotment case

Lokayukta police to question former Muda chiefs in site allotment case

Time of India4 days ago
Mysuru: Even as the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Karnataka high court quashing the summons issued by the enforcement directorate to Parvathi, wife of chief minister Siddaramaiah, in the Muda case, the Lokayukta police in Mysuru have got govt's permission to question two former Muda commissioners who will be quizzed soon.
The anti-corruption agency is probing alleged site swap deals developed under a controversial 50:50 scheme.
Lokayukta SP TJ Udesha, who is the investigation officer confirmed to TOI that they had sought permission from the govt to question former commissioners of Muda, DB Natesh and GT Dinesh, concerning the disposal of developed sites to landowners under the contentious scheme when they were heading the urban development body and it has been approved by the govt previous week.
According to Lokayukta SP, about 1,055 sites in various layouts developed by the urban body, were given away for land acquired from landlords in Mysuru. One of the beneficiaries, Parvathi, returned the sites to the urban body after an FIR was filed against her, following a direction by the special court, Bengaluru.
Activist Snehamayi Krishna petitioned the special court to investigate the matter, accusing the chief minister and his family of grabbing the land and then obtaining developed sites from the urban body.
The anti-corruption agency that probed the matter submitted its report to the court giving a clean chit to the CM and his family, including his wife and brother-in-law, stating there is no evidence against them in the alleged scam. However, it discovered that not just 14 sites, but the urban body had given away about 1,055 sites to various individuals and GPA holders under the scheme.
As Lokayukta police have been directed by the special court to also probe other cases of giving sites under the scheme, the cops have sought permission to quiz the then commissioners under whose tenure the majority of sites were disposed of under the scheme.
Investigation officer Udesha said the commissioners are likely to be summoned as part of the investigation to record their statements. Earlier, they were questioned concerning Parvathi's case and now with regard to 1,000 other sites in which, more than 130 have benefited from the scheme.
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