Nirani joins brigade of land scam accused

BANGALORE: A day after Home and Transport Minister R Ashok was dragged to court in connection with a land denotification case, Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani was slapped with a private complaint which accused him of being involved in a land scam.Alam Basha, a Bangalore based industrialist, on Thursday approached the Lokayukta court at the last minute and filed a private complaint against Nirani and nine others. Judge N K Sudheendra Rao will take up the case for hearing on  Friday.In the complaint, Nirani has been accused of illegally denotifying 20 acres of land at Huvinayakanahalli in Devanahalli taluk and seven acres of land at Dobbspet in Nelamagala taluk which were acquired by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) for industrial purposes.According to the complainant, Nirani approved denotification of 20 acres of land in survey numbers 124, 125 and 126 at Hoovinayakanahalli which was in possession of government for the hardware project.In another offence, the complaint stated that Nirani orchestrated the denotification of seven acres of land in Marakankuppe.