MUDA ''scam'': CM Siddaramaiah rejects BJP's demand for CBI probe, says it's a "non-issue"
Mysuru (Karnataka), Jul 10: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday rejected BJP's demand for a CBI probe into the alleged fraudulent allotment of sites to land losers by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), which involves plots given to his wife Parvathi.
He accused the BJP of politicising a "non-issue."
The Chief Minister was reacting to BJP state President B Y Vijayendra announcing earlier in the day that a "mega" protest would be staged in Mysuru -- Siddaramaiah's home district -- on July 12 in connection with the alleged "scam".
It is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by the MUDA.
ALSO READ: MUDA ''scam'': BJP to hold "mega" protest in home district of CM on July 12, demands his resignation
The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where MUDA developed a residential layout.
The controversial scheme envisages allotting 50 per cent of developed land to the land loser in lieu of undeveloped land acquired for forming layouts.
"There are two issues, one is -- in October itself MUDA was told not to give sites under the 50:50 ratio scheme, but despite that sites were given regarding which investigation is on by two IAS officers. And based on it action will be taken. Second is -- they (BJP) want to make the sites given to my wife an issue, it is not at all an issue. It is not an issue at all," Siddaramaiah told reporters here.
"Did we seek for sites to be given in Vijayanagar? We haven't. Our land was illegally taken over. What will you do if your land is taken over? Won't you claim? That's what has happened here. We sought compensation for our land that was taken over, they (MUDA) gave in Vijayanagar, and they have accepted at the meeting that illegal take-over of our land was wrong."
Terming BJP's proposed protest as "political", the Chief Minister said if they raise the issue in the Legislative Assembly, "we will respond to it".
On BJP demanding a CBI probe, he said: "Can't our police probe? What are our police for? I have given several cases to CBI during our government, have they (BJP) given any case while in power? CBI Director Praveen Sood was DGP in Karnataka, our police have capability to investigate."
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Court acquits man accused of sexually harassing minor cousin
Thane (PTI): A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has acquitted a 23-year-old man, accused of sexually harassing and threatening his minor female cousin, as the victim and key prosecution witnesses failed to support the police case.
The order was passed on April 27 by special judge Premal S Vithalani, hearing cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. It was made available on Thursday.
The prosecution alleged that on November 18, 2018, the accused, who is a cousin of the victim, took the then 14-year-old girl in an auto-rickshaw, made sexual advances, and threatened to circulate her photographs on social media if she refused to marry him.
During the trial, the victim and her family members turned hostile.
The court noted that while the prosecution successfully proved the victim was a minor at the time of the incident through school records and birth certificates, it failed to prove the "foundational facts" of the alleged crime.
In the judgment, the court said, "The star witnesses namely victim, her cousin brother and her grandmother have not stated anything about the incident. Therefore, it cannot be said that the prosecution has succeeded in proving its case."
Referring to the testimony of the victim, the court said, "Even the victim has not supported the prosecution's case. She has specifically denied the incident. She denied that on the date of incident, accused took her in an auto-rickshaw, sexually harassed her by moving his hand on her breast, abused her and threatened her."
The court further highlighted that the victim's grandmother, who was the original informant, admitted during cross-examination that she was illiterate and had lodged the complaint based on what she was told, later stating that the accused had not even come to her house on the day of the incident.
The accused was facing charges under sections 354-A (1) (i) (sexual harassment), 504 (intentional insult), and 506-II (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act.
"In view of the discussion made above, the accused is required to be acquitted," the judge ruled.
