Kumar Bahukhandi
Bengaluru: A special Court here on Wednesday September 25 ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (Muda) site allotment case, setting the stage for filing of an FIR against him.
The order of Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat came a day after the High Court upheld the sanction granted by the Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot to conduct an investigation against Siddaramaiah on the allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife B.M. Parvathi by Muda in lieu of her losing 3.16 acres of land. A case had been registered against the Chief Minister’s family by petitioner Snehamayi Krishna on alleged irregularities.
In its order, the court set a deadline of 3 months for the Lokayukta officials to submit its report. The court issued directions to take up the probe under Section 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) (that gives a magistrate the power to order an investigation into a cognisable offense.) and file the investigation report by December 24.
The High Court had also vacated its August 19 interim order directing the Special Court to defer the decision on complaints against the Chief Minister, giving the green signal for ordering a probe. It had dismissed Siddaramaiah’s petition challenging the legality of the Governor’s August 16 order granting approval for investigation under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988.
