Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Friday set aside the Enforcement Directorate's summons to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi B M in connection with the MUDA site allotment case.
The court also quashed the summons issued to Urban Development Minister B S Suresh (Byrathi Suresh), who was not named as an accused, but was called for questioning by the ED.
Justice M Nagaprasanna delivered the verdict on petitions filed by Parvathi and Suresh challenging the ED's action. The summons had earlier been put on hold by the court on January 27.
Parvathi's counsel, Senior Advocate Sandesh Chouta, argued that the ED was conducting a parallel investigation despite the case already being probed by the Lokayukta police and a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Meanwhile, Additional Solicitor General of India Arvind Kamath, representing the ED, contended that Parvathi was the second accused in the predicate offence and had received proceeds of crime.
Minister Suresh's counsel, Senior Advocate CV Nagesh, maintained that his client was not an accused in the case and therefore should not have been summoned.
However, ASG Kamath countered that the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) grants the ED the authority to summon individuals, even if they are not named as accused, to obtain documents and records.
Siddaramaiah is also facing allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife Parvathi by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law B M Mallikarjun Swamy, Devaraju -- from whom Swamy had purchased a land and gifted it to Parvathi -- and others have been named in the FIR registered by the Lokayukta police establishment, located in Mysuru on September 27, 2024, following the order of the Special Court that exclusively deals with criminal cases related to former and elected MPs/MLAs.
On September 30, the ED filed an enforcement case information report (ECIR) to book the CM and others taking cognisance of the Lokayukta FIR.
Lokayukta Police, however, had last month given a clean-chit to Siddaramaiah, Parvathi, and two other accused in connection with the case, stating that allegations against the first four accused have not been proven due to lack of evidence.
The ED, in its provisional attachment order dated January 17 following an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, had alleged that Siddaramaiah and other accused were involved in attempted money laundering in the MUDA site allotment case.
The agency has said that the fourteen sites (plots) allotted to Parvathi in Mysuru upmarket were illegally allotted. "Illegal compensation in the form of sites at posh locality worth Rs 56 crore (Appx) was obtained through political influence..." it said.
In the MUDA site allotment case, it is alleged that 14 compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru (Vijayanagar Layout 3rd and 4th stages), which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by MUDA.
The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where it developed a residential layout.
Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts.
It is alleged Parvathi had no legal title over this 3.16 acres of land at survey number 464 of Kasare village, Kasaba hobli of Mysuru taluk.