Special court dismisses plaint against Siddu 1.0 for causing loss to BBMP

A PRIVATE complaint filed by a former corporator alleges that the aggrieved Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) itself has maintained silence on recovering crores of rupees in advertisement tax from the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), for using its bus shelters to display achievements of the state government.

- YATHIRAJU @ Bengaluru

The ads pertain to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's 2013-18 tenure. The complaint alleges that Siddaramaiah and then Urban Development Minister KJ George might have bribed or given illegal gratification to accused bureaucrats of the DIPR to maintain silence, and a special court dismissed it.

Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat of the Special Court for trial of criminal cases against former and sitting MPs/MLAs in the state, said allegations are levelled on assumptions and presumptions, which cannot be a basis for setting criminal law into motion. Also, the complaint was dismissed by holding there are no grounds to proceed against accused No. 1 to 5, he said.