K'taka HC reserves order on stay by single-bench favouring ex-MUDA chief Natesh

Bengaluru: A division bench of the High Court on Thursday reserved its order on the plea filed by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) seeking an interim stay on the single bench order in favour of former MUDA commissioner D B Natesh in the site allotment case involving CM Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathy B M and others. 

A division bench of Chief Justice N V Anjaria and Justice K V Aravind reserved the order after hearing Additional Solicitor General S V Raju and Aravind Kamath for the ED and senior advocate Dushyant Dave for Natesh. 

The ED argued that the order passed by the single bench was being cited in a number of cases and that single benches are granting stay in several other matters, hampering probe.

It was claimed that even the 'B' summary report filed by Lokayukta police in the case pertaining to MUDA noted that Natesh’s actions caused a loss to exchequer and required probe. 

Dave said there are no money-laundering aspects involved in allotment of alternative sites and the matter pertains to a site allotment scheme upheld by the HC in many instances. He claimed the ED is being used in states ruled by Congress and other Opposition parties. 

On Jan 27, 2025, allowing the petition filed by Natesh, a single bench had said that the search and seizure under the garb of probe, in absence of prima facie evidence to establish offence under Section 3 of Prevention of Money Laundering (PML) Act, is nothing but abuse of process of law.