Mangaluru : The controversy over chief minister Siddaramaiah’s Rs 70 lakh Hublot watch, which had got a quiet burial with him handing it over to speaker K B Koliwad, has resurfaced. Former DSP Anupama Shenoy shot off a letter to Koliwad on Monday, alleging the watch was gifted to the CM by Dubai-based NRI B R Shetty.

In her letter, Shenoy said the Hublot watch was given to Siddaramaiah through Girish Chandra Varma, a doctor working in the hospital owned by Shetty in Dubai. She alleged it was a quid pro quo for handing over the two-acre Udupi Ajjarkad Government Hospital and Jog Falls project to Shetty’s company BR Ventures.

Shetty, founder of Abu Dhabi-based NMC Healthcare and chairman of BRS Ventures, denied allegations made by the former police officer saying he had gifted Siddaramaiah the diamond-studded watch in exchange for some favours. He said: “I’m really hurt. I deny the allegation levelled against me by a former police officer. It’s ridiculous to even consider it. I don’t know her at all. In such a circumstance, how can she make such an accusation?”

The chief minister’s office too rubbished Shenoy’s allegation and termed it a tactic employed by the BJP to divert people’s attention from two issues — separate religious status for Lingayats and agitations over alleged imposition of Hindi.

In February last year, Siddaramaiah had claimed the Hublot watch was a gift from Varma, a long-time friend based in Dubai. He had put its value at Rs 15 lakh.

However, Shenoy maintained that the CM receiving the watch and granting of land to Shetty in Udupi and Jog Falls are inter-linked. On June 18 this year, then President Pranab Mukherjee had laid the foundation stone for the super-specialty hospital of BRS Health and Research Institute in Udupi.

Shetty said it was dedicated to his mother and was his way of giving back to society. “I had made an offer to chief minister Siddaramaiah to have a charity hospital and a specialty hospital which would be constructed and run by me to help the poorest of the poor get the best medical care. The specialty hospital would ensure the sustainability of the charity hospital,” he said. “The project came to fruition after I held long discussions with the health minister, involving Udupi MLA Pramod Madhwaraj, and the district surgeon among others,” Shetty reiterated. The land has been handed over on a lease of 30 years.

Regarding Jog Falls, Shetty said: “When I was in class 7, I went on a school trip to Jog Falls and it was fantastic. But when I went back again a few years ago, I found it was in ruins. That’s why I told minister Kagodu Thimmappa that I would like to revive the falls, harvest the water and make it a 365-day attraction,” he said.

“There was no favour sought by the chief minister, health minister or any other minister or officials. They all knew it was a CSR project,” Shetty added.

Admitting that Dr Varma worked at one of his hospitals in Dubai, the businessman said: “He’s a consultant working at my hospital but he’s not bound to my hospital,” he added.