MUDA case: K'taka HC adjourns hearing of plea for CBI probe to Dec 10

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of the petition seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case involving Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, to December 10.

The Bench passed the order following the plea by the counsel representing accused number four, land owner J. Devaraju.

The counsel submitted that the matter was coming before the Division Bench of the High Court on December 5 and requested for postponement of the matter.

Accepting the plea, the High Court adjourned the matter to December 10.

The court also stated that it would get the status quo report by the Karnataka Lokayukta on the MUDA case probe on that day.

Senior counsel K.G. Raghavan, representing petitioner Snehamayi Krishna objected to the adjournment and requested the court to get the status quo report submitted today.

However, the Bench maintained that it would get the report on December 10 and directed the counsels to complete the arguments and counter arguments on December 10.

The Karnataka High Court is looking into the plea filed by RTI activist Krishna, seeking a CBI probe into the 2021 MUDA land allotment of 14 housing sites to CM Siddaramaiah’s wife as compensation for the acquisition of a 3.16-acre plot.

Parvati Siddaramaiah later returned the 14 housing sites to MUDA.

The MUDA case is being investigated by the Karnataka Lokayukta and the Special Court has mandated the Lokayukta police to complete the probe and submit the report by December 24.

The High Court sought a status report on the probe by November 26.

The Karnataka Lokayukta police had questioned CM Siddaramaiah on November 6 and registered an FIR in the matter based on the directions of a local court after the Karnataka High Court upheld the sanction accorded by Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot for an investigation into the case.

The Karnataka Lokayukta probing the MUDA case will now submit the status quo report to the High Court on December 10.