Probe report against Nirani submitted

The court had handed over the probe to the Lokayukta police, after a private complaint was lodged by businessman Alam Pasha, accusing the minister of illegally denotifying land and grabbing land in the name of fake companies.

Judge N K Sudhindra Rao adjourned the matter to December 12 after directing the Lokayukta Superintendent of Police to appear before the court for the next hearing.
Pasha had filed a complaint with the Special Lokayukta Court alleging that Nirani had floated several companies like MRN Sugars and Power Limited, Vijayashree Sugar and Power Private Limited, Sai Priya Sugars Limited, Shakti Steels and Power Industries Limited, Nirani Cements and Nirani Sugars.

These companies were alleged to have been allocated land totalling 1,580 acres at the Global Investors Meet, even though none of them was functioning. The companies are also said to have raised a project loan of Rs 500 crore from different banks by showing inflated net worth.

Nirani is also accused of denotifying 20 acres of land in Hoovinayakanahalli and causing a Rs 15-crore loss to the exchequer. In another instance, Nirani is accused of denotifying 150 acres of land in Kengelkempohalli, Averhalli, Chandhanavasahalli and other villages in Dobbespet industrial area of Nelamangala taluk.

This is supposed to have caused a loss of Rs 200 crore to the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board, which had already spent a considerable amount of money developing infrastructure in the area.