Bengaluru: The ED on Friday conducted raids in connection with the land allotment scam involving the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). According to sources, ED officials along with central paramilitary forces conducted searches at the MUDA office in Mysuru and some other places including Bengaluru. Documents have also been sought from the Tehsildar office in Mysuru. The residence of an accused, Devaraju in Kengeri was also searched. He was also questioned.

ED officials are examining the documents. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel have been deployed at the MUDA office. According to sources, no premises of the Chief Minister or his family were raided. MUDA Secretary Prasanna Kumar said in Mysuru, "We will provide whatever information the ED investigation team seeks."

ED registers case against Karnataka CM

In this case, the ED has recently registered a case under money laundering against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his wife and some others. It is alleged that the plots allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife as compensation in the posh area of ​​Mysore were worth much more than the land acquired by MUDA.

MUDA had allotted 14 plots to Parvati in the ratio of 50:50 in exchange for her 3.16 acres of land. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the ED action was only an exercise to gather information, collect documents related to the case and verify them.

'Will provide all documents to ED'

Former MP DK Suresh called it a politically motivated raid. Urban Development Minister Suresh BS said that MUDA will provide all the documents to ED. BJP, JDS welcomed the raid Welcoming the ED raid, opposition parties in Karnataka BJP and JDS said that it is necessary to expose the scam and bring out the truth.

Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly R. Ashoka said that a scam involving more than 1,200 plots, including the one belonging to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, was reported, due to which the ED conducted raids. Former Congress leader and MUDA president K. Mari Gowda himself has said in the letter that a scam of Rs 3,000-4,000 crore took place. The BJP and the Central government have no role in this matter.

Union Minister and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy has termed the MUDA case as a scam involving the grabbing of government land. He said that a fair investigation of the case is not possible by the Lokayukta police, which works under the state government. In the FIR lodged by the Lokayukta police in Mysuru, Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvati, his brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and Devaraju (from whom Swamy had bought land and gifted it to Parvati) and others have been named. The Chief Minister has termed the allegations against him or his family as false.

ED raids were conducted due to non-availability of documents:

Narayanaswamy Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy claimed that the ED raided the Muda office because documents were not provided. "ED officials raided the Muda office, taluk office and the residence of land owner J. Devaraju because the officials ignored the request for documents thrice. The Muda case should be handed over to the CBI to bring out the truth," he said. He demanded the resignation of the chief minister and the state's urban development minister.