Court in Bengaluru defers order on ED plea against ‘B Report’ in MUDA land allotment case
Bengaluru (PTI): A special court for people’s representatives here on Tuesday deferred its order on a petition filed by ED against the ‘B Report’ filed by the Karnataka Lokayukta police in the MUDA land allotment case.
The report has cleared Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of wrongdoing. However, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the complainant, activist Snehamaayi Krishna, have filed objections challenging the report and demanded a deeper probe.
During the hearing, the presiding judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat stated that a decision on the B Report would be taken only after the Lokayukta police submits a complete investigation report.
As a result, the court adjourned the proceedings and posted the next hearing for May 7.
The court also granted the Lokayukta police permission to continue its investigation, following a request made by the agency.
Earlier, the Mysuru division of the Lokayukta police had submitted an initial report based on its inquiry into allegations against Siddaramaiah and three others.
However, the court observed that the investigation should not be limited to just four individuals and directed the police to probe all those involved and file a comprehensive report.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the allotment of sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), in which CM Siddaramaiah has been accused of misusing his position.
The allegations suggest that residential sites were allotted in violation of norms and procedures, potentially benefiting certain individuals, including Siddaramaiah’s family members.
The complaint filed by activist Snehamaayi Krishna prompted the Lokayukta to initiate an investigation.
A ‘B Report’—essentially a closure report indicating no evidence of wrongdoing—was later filed, stating there was no sufficient material to prosecute the accused.
However, this report has now been contested, with both the ED and the complainant arguing that crucial aspects of the case were overlooked or insufficiently examined.
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Sonia Gandhi, Rahul eyed Rs 2000 cr properties without investing a penny: BJP
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Friday dared Congress leaders facing corruption charges to seek a quick and time-bound disposal of cases, as it slammed the party for citing politics as the reason for the ED's action against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.
The ruling BJP kept the heat on the opposition party following the ED's chargesheet against the Gandhis and accused chief ministers from the Congress-ruled states of ploughing public money as advertisement into the weekly newspaper which few read.
Former Union minister Anurag Thakur alleged that the Congress used the newspaper as its ATM, claiming that Gandhis sought to acquire properties worth Rs 2,000 crores of the National Herald without investing a penny from their pocket.
Both Gandhis together owned 76 per cent of the Young Indian company which was, he said, given Rs 50 lakh loan by the Congress.
The company then took over the Associated Journals Limited, which owns the newspaper affiliated to the Congress, in lieu of Rs 90 crore it owed to the opposition party, he said.
Thakur asked if a political party can give a loan.
To a question about the allegation that the ED action was politically motivated, the BJP leader dared Congress leaders facing corruption charges to move courts to seek quick and time-bound trial in the cases against them.
"If they have guts, they should do it," he said, adding that in the "Congress model of corruption" the thieves make a lot of noises.
The National Herald case, he said, has stunned the Congress ecosystem into silence.
Thakur noted Gandhis have moved courts for quashing action against them for many times since a lower court took cognizance of the matter before the Modi government came to power.
The courts gave them no relief except that they are on bail, he said, adding that the judiciary did not intervene in the Enforcement Directorate's probe.
Turning to his home state Himachal Pradesh where the Congress is in power, Thakur accused the party of not fulfilling any of its 10 main promises but spending crores of rupees in advertisement in the National Herald.
"Does any Congress leader or member read it in Himachal," he asked, demanding that people should be given details of money spent by different Congress governments in advertisements in the newspaper, which is available digitally.
The Congress has been organising protests in different parts of the country against the ED action.
