Police questions Karnataka Home Minister

B D Narayankar

Press Trust of India

Bangalore, Nov 24: Lokayukta police today questioned
Karnataka Home Minister R Ashoka in connection with its
probe into a complaint filed against him for allegedly
securing denotification of government land in violation of
rules.
A team led by City Lokayukta Superintendent of Police P
Shivashankar questioned Ashoka for about 90 minutes in its
office and asked him about 80 questions about the course of
events in purchasing and denotification of a piece of land,
Lokayukta police sources said.
A sessions court had yesterday directed Lokayukta police
to submit its final report on the complaint filed against
Ashoka by December 16.
RTI activist Jayakumar Hiremath had filed the complaint
accusing Ashoka of being involved in illegal denotification of
government land, causing an estimated loss of Rs 50 crore to
the state exchequer.
Hiremath alleged the minister had secured denotification
of 23.12 guntas (a gunta is 1/40 of an acre) of land belonging
to Bangalore Development Authority when B S Yeddyurappa was
the Chief Minister.
Earlier, the Lokayukta police submitted a status report
on its investigations into the complaint.