Bengaluru, 28 Jan

In a relief to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, a Special Court for Public Representatives on Wednesday accepted the closure report by Lokayukta police, giving a clean chit to him and his wife, Parvathi, in the MUDA land allotment case. The court also exonerated Siddaramaiah’s brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and the original landowner J Devaraj.

The court was hearing a petition by activist Snehamayi Krishna challenging the Lokayukta police’s “B Report.” While Siddaramaiah and others were cleared, the court allowed further investigation against other accused and fixed the next hearing for 9 February.

Special Court judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat emphasised that the probe was not entirely closed, stating that the Investigating Officer shall continue the investigation against other accused and file the final report upon completion. The judge also rejected the complainant’s plea seeking contempt proceedings against the Investigating Officer.

On the role of central agencies, the court noted that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has the right to intervene as aggrieved parties, but only to a limited extent.

The case relates to 14 compensatory MUDA sites allegedly allotted to Parvathi in an upmarket Mysuru area under a 50:50 scheme, following acquisition of 3.16 acres of her land. It was alleged that Siddaramaiah used political influence in the allotment, and that Parvathi had no legal title over the acquired land.