On Friday (12th July), Congress leader and Former Karnataka Minister, B Nagendra was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for interrogation in the Valmiki Corporation Scam case. This is days after the ED conducted raids on 20 locations associated with the suspects in the scam at the State-run Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, wherein funds worth up to Rs 88 crore have possibly been embezzled.
#BREAKING
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) July 12, 2024
Valmiki Corporation Scam: Former Karnataka Minister B Nagendra has been taken to the ED office for questioning.
Watch as @KeypadGuerilla shares more details with @DeeptiSachdeva_ #Karnataka #ED pic.twitter.com/BL1na7sBOm
As per the reports, premises raided by the ED were linked to two ruling Congress MLAs, Ballari Rural MLA B. Nagendra, who resigned as Minister for Scheduled Tribes Welfare on June 6th, and Raichur Rural MLA Basanagouda Daddal, the corporation’s chairman.
On July 10th, the ED also detained the personal assistant (PA) of B Nagendra identified as Harish. He was taken to the ED office in Bengaluru and was interrogated in the case. The raids reportedly occurred one day after SIT questioned Nagendra and Daddal on July 9th. To date, the SIT has arrested 11 people and recovered Rs 14.5 crore.
Others raided by the ED include the main suspect JJ Padmanabh, managing director of the corporation, Parashuram, a bookkeeper at the corporation, and three workers of the Union Bank of India’s MG Road branch in Bengaluru, where the purported money laundering is said to have occurred.
Notably, the ED obtained security cover for the raids from the Central Reserve Police Force rather than the Karnataka Police.
Nagendra and Daddal were present at their homes during the raids and were questioned by ED agents until late at night 10th of July.
The fraud was discovered after the corporation’s accounting superintendent, P. Chandrashekhar, killed himself on May 26th. In a note, he claimed that money was illegally transferred from the firm to several accounts. The Union Bank of India, headquartered in Mumbai, filed a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleging embezzlement of Rs 88 crore.
In addition to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the State Government and the CBI, the ED is the third agency investigating the said scam.
