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The Karnataka High Court on Friday quashed the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to CM Siddaramiah's wife, Parvathi, and Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh in connection with the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case.
The judgement pronounced by High Court Justice M Nagaprasanna comes as a huge relief to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Parvathi and Minister Byrathi Suresh had approached the High Court to appeal for cancelling ED summons in connection with the MUDA scam. The petition demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe was also dismissed by the High Court, saying that it was not required given that another agency (Lokayukta) was conducting an enquiry. This development follows after Karnataka Lokayukta SP Udesh submitted an interim 8,000-page B Report on Thursday in connection with the MUDA scam case. The notice, issued by Udesh, declares the case "not actionable," leading to the submission of a final report to the competent court. The Lokayukta concluded that the allegations against the four accused individuals were either civil in nature, outside the scope of a criminal investigation, or based on misinterpretations of legal provisions. Earlier, the Karnataka Lokayukta Police had issued a notice to complainant Snehamayi Krishna stating that the allegations in the MUDA scam case could not be substantiated due to a lack of evidence. On February 20, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar lashed out at the BJP and JDS for conspiring on the MUDA issue and said that their conspiracy can't go on forever. Speaking to reporters at his Sadashivanagar residence, he said, "I had said long back when BJP and JDS took out a padayatra from Bengaluru to Mysuru that it is a politically motivated ploy. When there is no signature of CM Siddaramaiah in any of the documents, where is the question of his involvement?" Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge had said, "Lokayukta is an independent investigative agency...if they have given a clean chit to CM, I welcome that. CM has already said that there was no scam and no involvement of any family members, which has been proved in the investigation...we are not here to satisfy the BJP, the same Lokayukta gave clean chit to the BJP in many cases and that time, Lokayukta was fine for them..." (ANI)
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