Lokayukta police questions Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah for 2 hours in MUDA case

Mysuru: The Lokayukta police on Wednesday questioned Chief Minister Siddaramaiah here in the MUDA site allotment case. Siddaramaiah appeared before the Lokayukta police in response to the summons issued to him and responded to questions put to him by a team led by Lokayukta Superintendent of Police (SP) T J Udesh, official sources said. “The questioning lasted for about two hours,” a Lokayukta official said.

The CM, who has been named as accused number 1 in the FIR lodged by the Lokayukta police, is facing allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife Parvathi B M by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). They had on October 25 questioned his wife, who has been named as accused number 2.

Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and Devaraju — from whom Swamy had purchased a land and gifted it to Parvathi — and others have been named in the FIR registered by the Mysuru-located Lokayukta police establishment on September 27.

Swamy and Devaraju have already deposed before the Lokayukta police.

The opposition BJP staged a protest here, reiterating its demand for the resignation of Siddaramaiah. Protesters led by BJP MLA T S Srivatsa slammed Siddaramaiah, and asked him to step down from the CM post and face the probe.

They wondered how there could be a fair probe against a sitting Chief Minister.

Expressing doubts over the manner in which the Lokayukta probe is being conducted, Srivatsa demanded that the case be handed over to CBI.