Land grab: court directs filing of FIR against ex-CM

The principal senior civil judge and chief judicial magistrate has directed the police to register criminal cases and file a FIR against former chief minister Siddaramaiah and three others in connection with a land grab case.

The court has directed the Lakshmipuram police to register cases under Sections 120B, 197, 166, 167, 169, 200, 417, 409, 420 and 468 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the land grab case against Siddaramaiah, Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) former chairman C Basavegowda, sitting chairman D Dhruvakumar and MUDA commissioner P S Kantharaju.

The court has issued directions to the police, based on the application submitted by advocate N Gangaraju to the Governor, seeking permission for prosecution of Siddaramaiah in May 2018. But the Governor’s office cleared it, saying permission was not required for the prosecution.

The City Improvement Trust Board (CITB), as MUDA was called earlier, had acquired 535 acres of land under Hinkal Gram Panchayat to develop a layout, Vijayanagar II Stage, in 1981. In 1997, after the completion of the site distribution process, then Gram Panchayat president Papanna, his relatives Sakamma, Annaiah and Sunanda had applied to MUDA to denotify 30 guntas of the land, which was acquired from them. MUDA denotified the land. The process was completed within 20 days, when Basavegowda was the MUDA chairman.

Later, Siddaramaiah, then deputy chief minister, purchased 10 guntas of land belonging to Annaiah and constructed a house on the site measuring 120X75 ft. MUDA issued a No Objection Certificate and also approved the house plan. In 2013, Siddaramaiah sold the house.

In December 2017, Krishna, son of Annaiah, applied to MUDA for a 60X40 site as an alternative for his land. MUDA approved a site illegally, even though his land, then owned by his father, had been denotified. Thus, the court has directed filing of a case against Dhruvakumar and Kantharaju.

Kantharaju and the Lakshmipuram police said they were yet to receive the court order.