BENGALURU: ED served summonses Monday on Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah‘s wife B M Parvathi and urban development minister Byrathi Suresh for questioning in Mysuru Urban Development Authority (Muda) land allotment case before the high court’s Dharwad bench clamped an interim stay on the central agency’s move until Feb 10.
Justice M Nagaprasanna also reserved the court’s verdict on a petition seeking transfer of the probe into the controversial land-swap deal to CBI. The petition was filed by one of the purported whistleblowers in the case, Snehamayi Krishna.
Parvathi stands accused of benefiting from allegedly illegal allotment of land in the heart of Mysuru valued at around Rs 56 crore, purportedly in exchange for a parcel of land acquired by Muda from the CM’s wife outside the city.
Justice Nagaprasanna said the ED notices could disrupt the ongoing proceedings in the probe-transfer case. The judge also pointed out that a co-ordinate bench had quashed a similar notice issued to former Muda MD Natesh, who isn’t an accused in the case.
“Since this court is seized of the entire proceedings and has extended the time for Lokayukta police to file its report until the pronouncement of the order, permitting the summonses issued by ED would undoubtedly frustrate the proceedings,” the judge said.
The legal drama escalated when senior advocate Sandesh Chouta, representing Parvathi, argued that the ED summonses should be quashed, just like the one served on the Muda MD.
Counsel C V Nagesh, who appeared for Suresh, questioned why the minister had been summoned despite not being an accused in the case. He also informed the court that Suresh was currently preoccupied with his son’s wedding.
Additional solicitor general Aravind Kamath, representing ED, said Parvathi being an accused in the case, the agency was empowered to summon her under Section 50(2) of the PMLA to gather evidence. He said recording her statement would in no way interfere with the ongoing court proceedings. For Siddaramaiah, who recently defused calls for a chief ministerial change from his deputy D K Shivakumar’s supporters, the court granting relief for the time being to his wife and loyalist Suresh caps a torrid couple of weeks accentuated by a renewed campaign for him to make way.