Bengaluru, Mar 4 (PTI): Activist Snehamayi Krishna on Tuesday moved the Karnataka High Court challenging the single judge order refusing a CBI investigation against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the MUDA site allotment scam.

In his fresh petition, he appealed to the court to set aside the February 7 order passed by Justice M Nagaprasanna, who refused the CBI probe into the matter.

Krishna approached the High Court after the Lokayukta police gave a clean chit to Siddaramaiah and his family members in the MUDA site allotment case recently.

Krishna had been apprehensive about the impartial probe by the Lokayukta police.

In his petition earlier in the High Court, Krishna had contended that an impartial investigation is not possible since Siddaramaiah, being the chief minister, wields immense power and influence over the state departments, especially the state investigating agencies such as the police authorities and the Karnataka Lokayukta police.

Dismissing his petition on February 7, Justice Nagaprasanna said, "The material on record on its perusal nowhere indicates that the investigation conducted by the Lokayukta is partisan, lopsided or shoddy for this court to refer the matter to the CBI for further investigation or reinvestigation. As a result the petition would necessarily meet its dismissal and is accordingly dismissed."

Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law B M Mallikarjuna Swamy, Devaraju -- from whom Swamy had purchased a land and gifted it to Parvathi -- and others have been named in the FIR registered by the Lokayukta police establishment, located in Mysuru on September 27, 2024, following the order of the Special Court that exclusively deals with criminal cases related to former and elected MPs/MLAs.

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Jaipur (PTI): Retired IAS officer Subodh Agarwal, arrested in connection with the alleged Rs 960-crore Jal Jeevan Mission scam, was produced before an ACB court on Monday, which sent him to two days' police remand.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau had sought a three-day remand for further questioning in the matter, but the court granted two days' custody.

The order was passed by the ACB Court-1.

A team from the ACB arrested Agarwal on Thursday in connection with the multi-crore Jal Jeevan Mission corruption case.

He was sent to a three-day police remand on Friday. On completion of the remand period, the ACB produced him in court.

Agarwal was serving as the additional chief secretary of the public health engineering department when the alleged scam took place.

Some firms had allegedly secured tenders by submitting forged completion certificates in connivance with officers. Last month, the ACB arrested nine persons, including senior engineers and retired officials, in connection with the scam. Earlier, the ACB had arrested contractors.