Money routed via Co-operative Society to purchase property, luxury vehicles
Bengaluru: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Bengaluru Zonal Office, has provisionally attached 142 immovable properties having a market value of Rs. 300 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with the case against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others.
The attached properties are registered under the names of various individuals working as real estate businessmen and agents. The attachment is part of a probe into alleged irregularities in land allotment by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). Under its 50:50 sites scheme, MUDA used to take land and in lieu of it the owners who lost the land were compensated with alternative land elsewhere in Mysuru.
“Enforcement Directorate, Bangalore, has provisionally attached 142 immovable properties having a market value of Rs. 300 crore (approximate) registered in the name of various individuals who are working as real estate businessmen and agents under the provisions of the PMLA, 2002 in connection with the case against Siddaramaiah, the incumbent CM, and others,” a statement from the ED read.
Based on Lokayukta FIR
ED initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by the Mysuru Lokayukta Police under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Siddaramaiah and others.
It is alleged that Siddaramaiah has used his political influence to get compensation for 14 sites in the name of his wife B.M. Parvathi in place of 3 acres and 16 guntas of land at Kesare-Devanur Survey Number 464, acquired by the MUDA.
MUDA originally acquired the land for Rs. 3,24,700. The compensation in the form of 14 sites at posh localities of Vijayanagar Third and Fourth Stages is worth Rs. 56 crore (approximately). The role of former MUDA Commissioner Dr. D.B. Natesh has emerged as instrumental in the illegal allotment of compensation sites to Parvathi.
This land was gifted to Parvathi by her brother B.M. Mallikarjunaswamy and it was acquired by MUDA to develop the Devanur residential layout. While the 50:50 scheme was scrapped in 2020, Parvathi was a beneficiary of the scheme even after its scrapping, the ED stated.
Ill-gotten wealth unearthed
Searches conducted during the investigation further revealed that a large number of sites, other than 14 sites allotted to Parvathi, have been illegally allotted by MUDA as compensation to real estate businessmen, who in turn have sold these sites at huge profits and generated huge amounts of unaccounted cash.
The profit so generated has been laundered and shown as derived from legitimate sources in the MUDA records and in other account statements. The searches also revealed that sites have been allotted in the name of benamis/dummy persons of influential persons and real estate businessmen.
The incriminating pieces of evidence concerning payment of illegal gratification to the then MUDA Chairman and MUDA Commissioner in the form of immovable property, MUDA sites, cash, etc., were recovered.
It has also been revealed that the illegal gratification was routed through a Co-operative Society — to mask their origin — for the purchase of property, luxury vehicles etc. in the name of relatives of another former MUDA Commissioner G.T. Dinesh Kumar. Further investigation is under progress.
We are only investigating the case registered with the Lokayukta in Mysuru regarding the 14 sites approved for B.M. Parvathi, wife of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. We will submit the investigation report to the Court on Jan. 25. The Enforcement Directorate is investigating all cases in MUDA. Their investigation is independent of ours and has no relation to our investigation.”
— Dr. Subramanyeswara Rao, ADGP, Lokayukta
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