A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Karnataka Police CID had questioned the two on Tuesday in this case.
Minister for ST Welfare B Nagendra announced his resignation from the Cabinet on 6 June. (South First)
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday, 10 July, carried out searches in four states, including at the premises of former Karnataka minister and Congress leader B Nagendra and MLA B Daddal, as part of a money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Limited, official sources said.
The agency covered around 20 locations in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and one more state as part of a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.
The premises of Congress leader and former Karnataka Tribal Welfare and sports minister Nagendra and Congress MLA from Raichur rural seat Daddal, some entry operators and linked entities are being searched.
Daddal was also the chairperson of the Corporation.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Karnataka Police CID had questioned the two on Tuesday in this case.
#Karnataka: On Ashapura Road in #Raichur city, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted a raid at 7 AM on the residence of MLA and the Chairman of Valmiki Corporation Basanagouda Daddal.
This raid is part of an investigation into a ₹187 crore scam involving #Valmiki… pic.twitter.com/eTQ0BfXNpa
— South First (@TheSouthfirst) July 10, 2024
The illegal money transfer case came to light after P Chandrashekar — accounts superintendent at the Corporation — died by suicide, alleging in his suicide note that some officials pressured him to transfer crores of money to an unofficial account.
In the six-page suicide note accessed by South First, he had levelled corruption allegations to the tune of ₹88 crore against the KMVSTDC’s Managing Director, Accountant and Union Bank of India’s MG Road branch manager.
It revealed the unauthorised transfer of ₹187 crore belonging to the corporation from its bank account, and out of that ₹88.62 crore was illegally moved to various accounts allegedly belonging to “well-known” IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank.
Two FIRs have been registered following Chandrashekar’s death. The first was against the three people named in his death note, and the second was against six bank officials for the alleged fraud.
The note revealed the unauthorised transfer of ₹187 crore belonging to the Corporation from its bank account, and from that, ₹88.62 crore was illegally moved to various accounts allegedly belonging to “well-known” IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank.
Chandrashekhar had named the Corporation’s now suspended Managing Director JG Padmanabh, accounts officer Parashuram G Durugannavar, and Union Bank of India Chief Manager Suchismita Rawal in the note, while also stating that the “minister” had issued oral orders for transferring the funds.
The state government last week constituted a SIT headed by Manish Kharbikar, Additional Director General of Police, Economic Offences, at the CID in Bengaluru, to conduct the probe.
The CBI took up the probe into the case on 5 June after Union Bank of India filed a formal complaint with the central agency in connection with the embezzlement of public money.
However, Home Minister G Parameshwara said the Cabinet will take a call on handing over to CBI investigation covering the state government departments linked to the case, once it gets a formal request from the central agency.
(With PTI inputs)
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