SIT moves Raj Bhavan seeking permission to file charges against Union Minister Kumaraswamy
investigation team (SIT) of the Karnataka Lokayutka has renewed its request with Governor Thawarchand Gehlot for permission to file a charge-sheet against Union Heavy Industries and Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy in a case of renewal of mining lease.
The union minister was alleged to have illegally approved a mining lease to Sri Sai Venkateshwara Mineral in Sandur in Ballari district during his first stint as Chief Minister in 2007. The SIT, which completed investigations into the case, had in November last year, submitted a letter to the Governor seeking permission to file charges against the union minister.
The second letter assumes significance as it comes within a week after the Governor granted permission to three activists to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a case of alleged illegal allotment of 14 pricey housing plots to his wife Parvathi in Mysuru. The Congress has been pushing for similar sanctions against the BJP and JDS leaders against whom prosecution has been sought by the Lokayukta SIT.
Kumaraswamy served as chief minister for two terms in 2006-07 and 20018-19, but the case related to the approval of mining lease dates to his first term.
Siddaramaiah, in a chat with the media on Tuesday, attacked the Governor for acting in a partisan manner and disposing the requests seeking his prosecution while sitting on similar requests against former BJP ministers Murugesh Nirani, Shashikala Jolle and G Janardhan Reddy as well as JDS leader Kumaraswamy.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had, during his
