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ED examining ‘land acquisition’ complaint against Kharge, kin

ByNeeraj Chauhan
Jan 22, 2025 06:27 AM IST

ED is not formally investigating the matter as it cannot register an Enforcement Case Information Report until the Karnataka Lokayukta files a case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is examining a complaint against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, his son and Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge and other family members that accuses them of illegally acquiring public land in the state to see if there is a money laundering angle in the allegations, people familiar with the matter said.

Mallikarjun Kharge (ANI)
Mallikarjun Kharge (ANI)

ED is not formally investigating the matter as it cannot register an ECIR or Enforcement Case Information Report (equivalent of first information report) until the Karnataka Lokayukta, the state anti-corruption ombudsman files a case. A senior officer who asked not to be named said “we are only examining the issue to figure out it has any Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) angle whenever an FIR is filed by the predicate agency”.

A Lokayukta official who too asked not to be named, clarified that , “no FIR has been registered yet”.

HT reached out to Priyank Kharge but did not receive any response to request for comment.

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, NR Ramesh, filed a complaint before Lokayukta against the Kharges in September 2024 alleging that Siddhartha Vihar Trust, linked to the family of Mallikarjun Kharge, was allotted a 8,002 square metre plot in 2014 by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) by flouting the rules. Siddaramaiah was the chief minister at that time.

It also claimed that a five-acre plot of land was allocated in the Hi-Tech Defence and Aerospace Park in Bagalur to Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Rahul Kharge, the chairperson of the same trust, by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) on May 30, 2024. Ramesh also filed a complaint in the matter with Karnataka Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot in October last year.

Following the allegations, the Siddhartha Vihar Trust returned the five-acre land to KIADB on September 20, 2024.

Ramesh’s complaint alleged that the actions of allocating land to the Kharge family amount to “an abuse of power, favoritism, and a breach of public trust”.

“The accused have misused their positions and conspired to cause wrongful gain to the educational trust, leading to a loss of valuable public property meant for the welfare of the citizens,” he added.

Other than the Congress president and his two sons, the complaint seeks action against Kharge’s wife Radhabai Kharge, his son-in-law and Gulbarga lawmaker Radhakrishna Doddamani, Karnataka minister MB Patil and IAS officer S Selvakumar.

Last September, Priyank Kharge dismissed the charges as politically motivated. “In yet another attempt to malign my family, the BJP has got one of their stooges to file a complaint with the Lokayukta and also with the Governor seeking prosecution,” he said in a statement. He had said that property in question, allocated by the BDA to the Siddhartha Vihar Trust in 2014, was legally obtained on a 30-year lease for establishing a school.

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