ED terms allotment of 14 alternative sites to Siddaramaiah’s wife ‘illegal’ and says former MUDA Commissioner Natesh was ‘instrumental’ in allotment

D.B. Natesh
| Photo Credit:

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), probing the alleged scam in the allotment of 14 alternative sites to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife, B.M. Parvathi, in lieu of 3.16 acres of land acquired by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA), termed the allotment of sites as “illegal” on Friday (January 17).

In a statement, the ED said, “The role of ex-MUDA Commissioner D.B. Natesh has emerged as instrumental in the illegal allotment of compensation sites to Ms. Parvathi.” It may be recalled that the ED raided Mr. Natesh, and the officer has moved the High Court to challenge the agency’s action and hold all agency proceedings “invalid.”

Interestingly, according to the ED, it was “alleged” that Mr. Siddaramaiah used his political influence to obtain the 14 compensatory sites. Sources in the State government interpreted it as an indication that the probe “has not concluded” that the Chief Minister used any influence.

The statement further said MUDA originally acquired the land for ₹3.24 lakh, and the compensation, 14 sites in a posh locality, was worth approximately ₹56 crore.

142 properties

Meanwhile, the ED has expanded the scope of the probe beyond the 14 sites over which the FIR has been filed and provisionally attached 142 immovable properties with a market value of ₹300 crore, registered in the name of various real-estate business people and agents.

None of these properties are related to the Chief Minister’s family and pertain to other MUDA allotments of compensation sites. Following the controversy, Ms. Parvathi returned the 14 sites to MUDA.

In the statement issued on Friday, the ED said searches conducted during the investigation into the case against Mr. Siddaramaiah and his wife further revealed that MUDA had illegally allotted a large number of sites as compensation to real estate business people, who in turn had sold these sites at a big profit and generated a huge amount of unaccounted cash.

Benamis of businessmen

“The searches also revealed that sites have been allotted in the name of benamis of influential persons and real estate businessmen. The incriminating evidence with respect to the payment of illegal gratification to the then MUDA chairman and commissioner in the form of immovable property, MUDA sites, cash, etc., was recovered. The illegal gratification, thus received, was further laundered and shown as derived out of legitimate sources,” said the ED.

The statement further stated, “It has also been revealed that money was routed through a cooperative society for purchase of property, luxury vehicles, etc., in the name of relatives of G.T. Dinesh Kumar, who was the previous MUDA commissioner.”