Bengaluru:
Anti-corruption watchdog Lokayukta said Wednesday it had found no evidence incriminating Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority land scam case.
In a notice to the complainant – Snehamayi Krishna, one three anti-corruption activists who wrote last year to Governor Thawarchand Gehlot, seeking Siddaramaiah’s prosecution – the Lokayukta said there is no material to prove charges against the ex-Chief Minister and the other accused.
Krishna has been given a week to respond, after which the Lokayukta will submit its final report.
However, compensatory land allottments by MUDA between 2016 and 2024 – including those to Siddaramaiah’s wife, BM Parvathi, then also the Chief Minister, and which are at the heart of the controversy – will remain “under scrutiny”, and a supplementary report will be given to the court.
The MUDA land scam pertains to allotment of land to Siddaramaiah’s wife.
Anti-corruption activists had alleged irregularities in the process – the grant of plots in a posh neighbourhood in Mysuru in exchange for land on the outskirts – cost the state Rs 45 crore.
These complaints named the Chief Minister and his wife, as well as his son S Yathindra and senior officials from the urban development body.