• CM Siddaramaiah’s close aides Hinkal Papanna and his son Rakesh Papanna grilled at their residence in Mysuru for second consecutive day
• Rumours rife that documents moved to friends’ houses anticipating ED action

Mysuru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths, who raided the residence of former Zilla Panchayat (ZP) Member Rakesh Papanna at Hinkal in the outskirts of the city on Monday, in connection with the ongoing investigation into the alleged irregularities in 50:50 site allotment scheme at Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), have continued their investigation for the second consecutive day today.

Rakesh Papanna and his father Hinkal Papanna are the close associates of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, whose wife B.M. Parvathi, was the beneficiary of 14 sites at upscale Vijayanagar Third and Fourth Stages, in lieu of 3.16 acres of land belonging to her at Survey No. 464 at Kesare village, that was utilised for the development of Devanur Layout by MUDA.

As the issue turned into a major controversy, Parvathi returned the sites to MUDA recently, but the probe involving ED and also Lokayukta Police, Mysore Division, continues, keeping the heat on, into the alleged site scam.

Papannas’ intense grilling

The ED officials, who subjected Rakesh Papanna (who had been nominated as MUDA Member, when he was the member of ZP) and his father, into intense grilling, reportedly questioned them about getting over 20 sites allotted illegally by MUDA under the 50:50 scheme and Incentive Scheme at Vijayanagar Second, Third and Fourth Stages, in exchange of a land acquired by MUDA in Hinkal.

The ED officials, who returned to Rakesh Papanna’s house at 6.30 am today, have been repeatedly questioning the father-son duo, sending them into a state of tizzy.

While three of the ED personnel stayed overnight at Papanna’s house, the ED officials had returned to the hotel, where they had put up. They returned only to pace up the investigation, with Papannas being the long-time associates of CM Siddaramaiah, aware of most of the secrets related to their mentor.

While the family members of Papanna have been restrained from stepping out of the house, no others are allowed inside the house, even as the anxious villagers and supporters of Papanna gathered outside the house. They are likely to be questioned till today evening.

10-gunta land

The ED questioning centres around 10 guntas of land owned by Papanna in Hinkal, that had been used by MUDA for developing Vijayanagar Third Stage, without following the process of acquisition.

Papanna had allegedly received a benefit of a huge site in the dimension of 50×80 square feet, in violation of law, during the tenure of previous MUDA Commissioner G.T. Dinesh Kumar. This nefarious deal came to light during the raid on MUDA by ED officials recently.

Photocopy of documents

It is said, the ED personnel have photo-copied several incriminating documents found during their search at Papanna’s house. They have also taken into their custody the mobile phones of Papannas to ensure questioning without any interruption.

Questioning of former MUDA Commissioner Dr. Natesh

Similarly, ED sleuths have continued to interrogate former MUDA Commissioner Dr. D.B. Natesh at his flat on 10th Cross, Malleswaram, Bengaluru, for the second consecutive day today. On the other hand, Dr. Natesh’s successor G.T. Dinesh Kumar, who made good his escape when the ED raided his flat near Banasavadi in Bengaluru, continues to be missing and remains incommunicado with his phone switched off.

The raid on builder N. Manjunath, which was conducted in multiple places including Mysuru, Mandya and Bengaluru on Monday, concluded late in the night, it is learnt.