Whitefield property acquired legally, says Kumaraswamy

Whitefield property acquired legally, says Kumaraswamy

The Hindu

Chief Minister thinking of filing defamation case against Shivakumar

# Chief Minister releases documents of the transaction
# Says Shivakumar presented misleading `evidence'
# Asserts that property was not undervalued

Bangalore: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is considering filing a civil defamation case against the Congress MLA D.K. Shivakumar with regard to his allegation that members of the Deve Gowda family had acquired property at Whitefield, near here, through illegal means.

Lashing out at Mr. Shivakumar, who is a former Minister, and other Congress leaders at a press conference here on Friday, he declared, "The transaction is a purely private transaction without the involvement of any political or official favour either to the developer or to the erstwhile landowners and also without any loss to the State exchequer as there is no stamp duty evasion," Mr. Kumaraswamy said.

Mr. Shivakumar had alleged that members of the family of the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda had bought a multistoreyed building in Whitefield. The building, according to him, was valued at Rs. 85 crore.

The Chief Minister, who released documents of the transaction at Friday's press conference, said Mr. Shivakumar had removed a few pages from copies of the original document and released them to the press to mislead everyone. "Just because we are in politics, are we barred from owning properties acquired legally and legitimately through our business," he asked.

"This is the last time I will reply to these charges made against me and my family members. I have already submitted details about my assets to the Lok Ayukta and asked that they be posted on its website," he said.

About the allegation that he had collected Rs. 150 crore from mine owners in Bellary district and invested the money in the property, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that his wife and he and their relatives had entered into an agreement with the sellers by paying an advance and the value of the property was fixed at Rs. 36.06 crore in 2004, much before he became Chief Minister.

Bank loan

The family had borrowed Rs. 33 crore from Karnataka Bank for a period of 12 years and his relatives contributed the remainder, he said. Thus, in August 2005, the amount paid by my relatives was 8.5 per cent of the total value, while 91.5 per cent was a loan from Karnataka Bank, Mr. Kumaraswamy said.

He said the property was registered on March 23, 2006 for an amount above the guidance value. Though the Sub-Registrar had assessed the value at Rs. 23,97,69,066, his relatives had declared in the sale deed that they had purchased the property for Rs. 36,06,43,500 and paid stamp duty and registration charges accordingly. Thus the property was not undervalued as alleged, he said.

Details about the property were furnished to the Income Tax Department before March 31, 2006. "I have also disclosed the investment details of my wife's assets and liabilities for the year ending March 31, 2006 to the Lok Ayukta," the Chief Minister said.

"This was purely a private transaction and I categorically say that my conscience is clear," he said.

The Chief Minister also said a petrol bunk located at Padmanabhanagar here, which was in his wife's name, had been sold to Indian Oil Corporation.