Bangalore, Oct 30, DHNS : Deepening the embarrassment to the ruling BJP in the State, the Lokayukta police on Saturday filed a first information report (FIR) against Large and Medium Industries Minister Murugesh R Nirani who is facing charges of irregularities in denotification of land acquired for industrial purposes.
The action, based on a private complaint registered by a businessman, Alam Pasha, came on the eve of veteran leader L K Advani’s anti-corruption yatra entering the State.
The Special Lokayukta Court handed over the probe to the Lokayukta police on October 24 and the investigations will be headed by Lokayukta city Superintendent of Police (SP) Shivashankar. The complaint related to denotification of lands and acquisition of lands through fraudulent means has been named Murugesh Nirani (main accused), his brother H R Nirani and seven others.
In his complaint with the Special Lokayukta Court, Pasha alleged that the minister had floated companies like MRN Sugars and Power Limited, Vijayashree Sugar and Power Private Limited, Sai Priya Sugars Limited, Shakti Steels and Power Industries Limited, Nirani Cements and Nirani Sugars.
He alleged that the companies are alleged to have been allocated 1,580 acres at the Global Investors Meet though none of the companies were functioning. These companies are also said to have raised a project loan of Rs 500 crore from different banks by showing inflated net worth.
Nirani is accused of denotifying 20 acres at Hoovinayakanahalli, causing a loss of Rs 15 crore to the state exchequer. He is also charged with denotifying 150 acres at Kengelkempohalli, Averhalli, Chandhanavasahalli and other villages in the Dobbespet industrial area of Nelamangala taluk. This is supposed to have caused a Rs 200-crore loss to the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board which had already spent a considerable amount of money on developing infrastructure in the area.