Ashok returned land when there was a case against him, point out Ministers

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok, who has criticised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife for returning 14 sites to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), had similarly returned 32 guntas of land at Lottegollahalli here when there was a probe against him, said Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Wednesday. He addressed the media along with three other senior Ministers attacking Mr. Ashok.

Mr. Ashok and other BJP leaders had termed Mr. Siddaramaiah’s wife, Parvathi, returning the 14 sites as an “acceptance of guilt” and demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister.

Giving out details of the Lottegollahalli denotification case of 2011, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said Mr. Ashok bought two parcels of land at Lottegollahalli in 2007 and 2009, through a sale deed. “The BDA had finished the acquisition of these parcels of land as far back as 1987. The owners of the land parcels before the BDA acquired them sold them to Mr. Ashok. In my experience, I can say that this sale deed itself was illegal. Later, one Ramaswamy applied for denotification of the said land parcels, which was done in two months in 2009. The khata was eventually done in the name of Mr. Ashok,” he said.

RTI activist Wg.Cdr. G.B. Athri (retd.) pursued the case against Mr. Ashok, lodged a complaint and sought a criminal probe. However, Mr. Ashok returned the two parcels of land to the BDA via a gift deed on August 27, 2011. The High Court in its judgment in a petition seeking criminal probe against him opined that since the land had been returned to the BDA, there was no point in pursuing a criminal case, Dr. Parameshwara recalled.

“Now, Mr. Ashok should answer to the people of the State as to why he sought to create confusion among people by calling the return of 14 sites to MUDA acceptance of guilt when he has himself had returned land that was rightfully the BDA’s back to the authority in a gift deed,” the Home Minister demanded to know.

When contacted, Mr. Ashok was not available for comment. 

Published - October 02, 2024 10:13 pm IST