ED raid on MUDA: 30 hour search carried out in Mysuru office

Mysuru: Officials of Enforcement Directorate (ED) who are investigating a case against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah related to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), reportedly searched for documents at the MUDA office in Mysuru from 10 am on Saturday till 3 am on Sunday.

The officials have reportedly searched for documents for a total of 29-and-a-half hours, including 12-and-a-half hours on Friday and 17 hours on Saturday. They had searched for documents from 11 am till 11.30 pm on Friday, MUDA sources said.

During the raid, the ED officials reportedly questioned all the old staff of MUDA. MUDA Commissioner A N Raghunandan and Secretary Prasanna V K, who took charge just over one-and-a-half months ago, have cooperated with officials, sources said.

Over 40 CRPF personnel and city cops, meanwhile, were deployed to ensure security.

The raid stems from Mysuru-based RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna's complaint with the ED against against CM Siddaramaiah.

The plaint pertains to 14 alternative sites allotted by MUDA in Vijayanagar's third and fourth stage as compensation to the CM's wife B M Parvathy for using her 3.16 acre on survey number 464 of Kesare village in Mysuru taluk without acquiring it.

Based on Krishna's complaint, the ED is conducting an investigation under the provisions of the PMLA act.

With the alleged 'scam' spiralling into a political slugfest, Parvathy recently returned all 14 sites to MUDA.