Siddaramaiah, Family Given 'Clean Chit' By Judicial Commission In MUDA Case

A judicial commission has given a 'clean chit' to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his family in connection with the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land allotment case. The panel, headed by the former judge of the Karnataka High Court, had submitted its report to Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh on July 31.

The probe panel exonerated Mr Siddaramaiah and his wife Parvathi B M, citing no illegality.

"We (the Cabinet) had constituted Justice P N Desai's one-man commission, which has submitted its report in two volumes. The report makes it clear that there is no truth in allegations made against the chief minister and his family. It has also asked for action against certain officials on various accounts. We have accepted the report and its recommendations," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said.

The MUDA case pertains to the alleged allotment of 14 residential sites to Mr Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru as compensation for 3.16 acres of her land "acquired" by MUDA. It was alleged that Ms Parvathi had no legal title over the 3.16 acres of land in Kasare village and that the plot was a gift to her from her brother, Mallikarjuna Swamy - who had claimed to have bought it from a man named J Devaraju.

On September 27 last year, all four people - Mr Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law, and Mr Devaraju were named in a case filed by the Lokayukta police establishment, following the order of the Special Court that exclusively deals with criminal cases related to former and elected MPs or MLAs. The case was probed by the Lokayukta Police and the Enforcement Directorate.

Earlier, the Lokayukta Police had given a clean chit to them, stating that allegations against them had not been proven due to a lack of evidence.