Bengaluru/IBNS: The Enforcement Directorate has accused Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a money laundering case filed in connection with the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land scam.

The probe agency registered the case after taking cognizance of a First Information Report filed by the Lokayukta.

Besides Siddaramaiah, his wife BM Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and Devaraju, from whom Swamy had purchased land and gifted it to Parvathi, and others have been named in the FIR registered by the Lokayukta police on Sept 27.

The FIR was filed following the orders of a special court after the Karnataka High Court upheld Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot's clearance for a probe against the Chief Minister.

The MUDA case involves allegations of illegal allotment of 14 sites to Siddaramaiah's wife by the authority.

It has been alleged that compensatory sites allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife, located in an upmarket area in Mysuru, are far higher than the land acquired from her by MUDA.

Siddaramaiah has denied any wrongdoing and claimed the allegations against him are politically motivated.

He is the latest Opposition Chief Minister to be named as an accused in a corruption case.

Earlier, the central agencies had arrested Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal, who has since stepped down from the Delhi Chief Minister's post.

Kejriwal got bail from the Supreme Court after being in Tihar Jail for nearly six months while Soren walked out of the jail after five months. The Supreme Court had refused to entertain the ED's petition challenging the bail order from the High Court.