A special court for cases against elected representatives in Karnataka on Tuesday granted the Lokayukta police permission to question a former commissioner of the Mysore Urban Development Authority in prison in connection with the alleged illegal allotment of 14 MUDA housing sites to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s family.
The special court had earlier given the Lokayukta police two months to complete their investigations into a private complaint filed by an RTI activist, Snehamayi Krishna, into the alleged illegal allotment of 14 sites by MUDA in 2021 to the current chief minister’s wife in exchange for a 3.16-acre property wrongfully acquired by MUDA.
However, with the two-month deadline ending on Tuesday, the Lokayukta police moved the court for permission to question former MUDA commissioner G T Dinesh Kumar, who has been in prison following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged money laundering carried out through the illegal allotment of MUDA land.
The special court granted the Lokayukta police permission to quiz Dinesh Kumar in jail on Friday after they said he was the MUDA chief when the alleged illegal site allotments were made.
“It is also submitted that the I.O. in the present case is conducting the investigation on war footing and as such they may be permitted to get the statement recorded on 12.12.2025 during the working hours,” the special court said, adding that “since the case pertains to allegations made with respect to illegal allotments of sites, the statement of G.T. Dinesh Kumar may be relevant to the I.O. to arrive at a just conclusion”.
“Admittedly Mr. G.T, Dinesh Kumar has been remanded to judicial custody by this court on the basis of the predicate offence, which was registered as per the directions issued by this court in the aforesaid PCR. Hence, the requisition is valid and it would be appropriate to direct the Jail authorities to provide necessary facilities to get the statement of G.T. Dinesh Kumar recorded,” the special court said.
On December 4, the Lokayukta police filed a status report regarding the investigations.
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“It is noticed from records that this court on 09.10.2025 had granted a maximum period of time for completing investigation was 2 months. Precisely, it was held by this court that the investigation was required to be completed as expeditiously as possible and within an outer limit of 2 months from that day. Hence, it does not mean that the investigating agencies are to complete their investigation only on the last day granted by this court,” the special court said.
“The learned SPP has submitted that the IO is conducting the investigation on a war footing to comply with the directions of this court. The submission is taken on record. Hence, this court cannot grant any more adjournments. Under the circumstances, orders on ‘B’ report are required to be passed with the available materials on record,” the special court said while asking the Lokayukta police and Snehamayi Krishna to file a written synopsis of arguments by December 16.
Two months granted for probe in October
On October 9, the special court gave the Lokayukta police two months to complete investigations to determine whether criminal proceedings should be initiated against the chief minister and his family on the basis of the private complaint.
“Considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, the Investigating Agency is hereby directed to complete the investigation as expeditiously as possible and within an outer limit of two months from today without seeking further extension of time to file the comprehensive report,” the court said in October.
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The Lokayukta police, however, presented details of their investigations and an affidavit of the investigating officer with respect to the investigations carried out.
Snehamayi Krishna has argued that the inclusion of 134 people who were allotted 1,055 sites under the MUDA’s 50: 50 exchange scheme in the scope of the probe would lead to complications and voluminous amounts of data. Krishna sought directions from the court for the investigators to stick to allegations against the chief minister and his family.
“Without expressing any opinion about the veracity of the ‘B’ Final Report submitted by the Investigating Agency, in my humble opinion, the contentions urged by the complainant do not hold water at this juncture,” the special court ruled in October.
Decision awaited on closure report
The Lokayukta police filed a closure report, or ‘B’ report, in the MUDA land allotment case in February 2025 citing a lack of evidence to establish the allegations of Snehamayi Krishna that Siddaramaiah profited to the tune of Rs 56 crore after his wife received 14 housing sites from MUDA in 2021 in exchange for a 3.16-acre plot.
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In April this year, the special court kept a decision on the acceptance or rejection of the closure report in abeyance. The court, however, allowed the Lokayukta police to continue the probe in the case till the filing of the final report of all their investigations.
The special court also said in April that the Enforcement Directorate, which filed a protest petition against the Lokayukta police’s closure report, can also continue its investigations with respect to a Prevention of Money Laundering Act case registered by it over the MUDA land allotments scam.
Following the controversy over the allotment of the 14 housing sites, the chief minister’s wife returned them to MUDA last year.
ED probe into MUDA allotments
The Enforcement Directorate, which investigates cases of money laundering, has provisionally attached 142 properties worth Rs 300 crore in connection with its investigation into alleged large-scale irregularities in the allotment of housing sites by MUDA, which emerged in 2024. The properties of the chief minister’s family were, however, not attached by the central agency.
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The Karnataka High Court on March 7 quashed summonses issued by the Enforcement Directorate to the chief minister’s wife and Urban Development Minister B S Suresh in the MUDA matter by emphasising that an individual cannot be compelled to give a statement in a PMLA case when no incriminating material has been found against them. This order was upheld by the Supreme Court.
On November 14, the Enforcement Directorate filed a prosecution complaint against former MUDA commissioner G T Dinesh Kumar in connection with the alleged illegal allotment of MUDA land. Kumar was arrested in September and has since been in prison.
“The evidence and documents collected during the course of investigation in this case have indicated active involvement of GT Dinesh Kumar in the comprehensive money laundering scheme perpetrated at MUDA, Mysuru, during his tenure as commissioner,” the central agency has stated.
The Enforcement Directorate has said that its probe revealed a large-scale scam in the allotment of MUDA sites, in which various statutes and government orders or guidelines were flouted.
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“The role of GT Dinesh Kumar has emerged as instrumental in illegal allotment of compensation sites to ineligible entities/individuals. The evidence with respect to obtaining bribes for making illegal allotments in the form of cash, bank transfer, movable/immovable properties, has been gathered during the course of the investigation,” the central agency has added.
The modus operandi for making the alleged illegal allotments involved the identification of ineligible beneficiaries and making allotments using fake or incomplete documents, in violation of government orders, and also by back-dating allotment letters, the Enforcement Directorate has said.
The gratification received for making these illegal allotments was routed through a cooperative society and bank accounts of the relatives or associates of Kumar, who has played a key role in the allotment process, the central agency has added.
The gratification was further used to purchase some of these illegally allotted MUDA sites in the name of Kumar’s relatives, according to the Enforcement Directorate.
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The former MUDA commissioner has moved the Karnataka High Court to challenge the Enforcement Directorate’s case.
Judicial commission report on MUDA scam
In September this year, a judicial commission set up to investigate the allegations of corruption and maladministration in MUDA reported that there was no wrongdoing in the chief minister’s family being given 14 developed housing sites to compensate for 3.16 acres wrongly acquired by the authority.
However, the commission, headed by retired high court judge, P N Desai, found large-scale irregularities in the functioning of MUDA in the 2020-2024 period and recommended criminal investigations and action against MUDA officials as well as cancellations of site allotments made under the 50:50 exchange scheme after March 2023, when it was flagged as violating rules.
Among the key findings of the Justice Desai commission are that the scheme for the allotment of alternative sites as compensation for land acquired by MUDA was filled with loopholes and seemed devised for benefiting illegal claimants and that it reeks of a scam.
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The sudden emergence of demands for alternative sites in the 2020-2024 period as compensation for MUDA-acquired properties “may be with the intention to get some better sites of their choice with the help and connivance of MUDA officers and officials; or it appears to be a scam in allotting alternate sites giving untenable reasons,” the commission said.