ED attaches Rs 300-cr worth assets in MUDA-linked money-laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it had provisionally attached more than 140 immovable assets worth about Rs 300 crore in a land scam-linked money-laundering case involving Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others.

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In September 2024, the ED booked Siddaramaiah and some others in a money-laundering case linked to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) after Lokayukta filed an FIR against him.

“Enforcement Directorate, Bangalore, has provisionally attached 142 immovable properties having market value of Rs 300 crore (approx) registered in the name of various individuals who are working as real-estate businessmen and agents under the provisions of the PMLA, 2002, in connection with the case against Siddaramaiah, the incumbent CM, and others,” a statement from the ED said.

The attachment is part of a probe into alleged irregularities in land allotment by MUDA.

MUDA is an urban body in Mysuru which builds residential layouts. Under its 50:50 scheme, MUDA used to take land and in lieu of it the owners who lost the land were compensated with another land elsewhere in Mysuru.

Siddaramaiah’s wife, Parvathi, owned 3.1 acres of land at Kesare village of Mysuru, which was gifted to her by her brother Mallikarjun. This land was acquired by MUDA to develop a residential layout. It is alleged that Parvathi was compensated with 14 sites in the Vijayanagar area, a prime locality in south Mysuru, in 2021. These plots are said to be substantially more valuable than the original piece of land.

While the scheme was scrapped in 2020, Parvathi was a beneficiary of the scheme even after its scrapping.