Case filed against me politically motivated: K'taka minister

Bangalore, Nov 4:

Law Minister S Suresh on Sunday claimed that the land denotification case booked against him by police was done to ruin his political career. He said the land referred to by Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) which booked the case against him does not come under his purview.

"In this case in April 2009, I referred the matter to the Advocate General's opinion. As law minister it is my duty to forward the department's opinion. It is up to the administrative department to decide on the opinion of the law department. The case is ridiculous and meant to ruin my political career," he said.

BMTF had on Saturday booked cases against Kumar, his former Cabinet colleague Krishnaiah Setty and then Chief Minister's former principal secretary VP Baligar for their alleged involvement in denotifying land measuring four acres and 20 guntas (one gunta is about 1,086 sq ft) at Laggere in Bangalore North taluk, meant for construction of houses for slum dwellers. The land was allotted by the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board nearly three decades ago.

The FIR, filed on a complaint by one Dinesh Kallahalli, a Bangalore resident, said nearly 4.2 acres were acquired by the Board in Laggere in 1982 to build houses for the poor. The land belonged to Gopinath, brother of Narahari, a prominent RSS leader, he charged.

The complainant alleged that though the land was acquired nearly three decades ago, the government in 2009 decided to denotify it in the name of Gopinath.

PTI