Bengaluru: The noose is tightening around Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
After the state Lokayukta lodged an FIR against him in a money-laundering case related to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed an enforcement case information report (ECIR) to book Siddaramaiah and others on Monday.
The central probe agency has included sections of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in its ECIR, which is the equivalent of a police FIR. The ED now has the authority to summon the accused for questioning and attach assets during the investigation.
Siddaramaiah, his wife BM Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy, and Devaraju — who sold land to Swamy which was later gifted to Parvathi — were named in Mysuru-based Lokayukta police’s FIR on September 27.
The 76-year-old Siddaramaiah has firmly denied all allegations levelled against him, saying that he was being targeted in the MUDA case because the Opposition was “scared” of him. Noting that this was the first “political case” the CM has refused to resign despite calls from BJP, JD(U) and also his party Congress.