Earlier in the day, former Congress minister was taken to the ED office from his residence for questioning.
Published Jul 12, 2024 | 12:12 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 12, 2024 | 11:20 PM
B Nagendra being taken into custody by ED. (Screengrab)
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday, 12 July, arrested former Minister B Nagendra, as part of a money-laundering probe linked to the alleged irregularities in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Limited, official sources said.
The Congress MLA was taken to the ED office in Bengaluru, earlier in the day from his residence for questioning and the arrest come late at night.
Following allegations against him in connection with the scam, Nagendra, who was Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister, tendered his resignation on 6 June.
“I’m being brought from my home…I don’t know anything,” Nagendra told reporters as he was being taken to the ED office.
#Karnataka: Enforcement Directorate officials have taken former Minister @BNagendraINC into custody
This is part of a money-laundering probe linked to the alleged irregularities in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Limited@INCKarnataka MLA… pic.twitter.com/tFoZvJlaQk
— South First (@TheSouthfirst) July 12, 2024
The ED has carried out searches for the last two days at several places, including at the premises of former Karnataka Minister Nagendra and ruling Congress MLA Basanagouda Daddal, who is Chairman of the Corporation.
The agency covered around 20 locations in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra as part of a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.
Continuing late into the night, the ED was been conducting these raids and examinations, for 48 hours at Nagendra’s house.
According to the sources, the ED has found important documents, however, due to lack of cooperation from the former minister, they took him into custody.
ED, on Friday, was questioning Nagendra, asking for every detail about the alleged multi-crore scam, using the documents found during the raids as part of their inquiry. They also detained two of Nagendra’s close aides on Thursday, 11 July.
SIT had questioned Nagendra and Daddal on Tuesday in connection with the case.
Mumbai-headquartered Union Bank of India had also filed a complaint with the CBI in connection with embezzlement of money belonging to the Corporation involving its MG Road branch, following which the premier investigation agency had initiated a probe.
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 inputs from PTI and Nolan Patrick Pinto)
