Valmiki Corporation scam: ED detains former minister B Nagendra

Team Udayavani, Jul 12, 2024, 9:39 AM IST

Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on Friday detained former Minister, B. Nagendra, in connection with the Rs. 187 crore scam in the Maharshi Valmiki Development Corporation.

According to sources, the ED officials took Nagendra into custody as he reportedly failed to provide satisfactory answers during the interrogation.

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. Both were interrogated for over six hours with a barrage of questions.

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.

The ED is looking for more evidence to implicate Nagendra and Daddal in the scam.

The officials also questioned Nagendra’s personal assistant, Harish, and another close associate, as well as Daddal’s aide Pampanna and Daddal’s nephew. There are suspicions that these individuals facilitated the transactions involved in the scam.

Nagendra reportedly had an account at the ICICI Bank in Mathikere. Consequently, an ED team brought bank officials to Nagendra’s flat in two vehicles to check whether any of the scam money was deposited into his account.

It is suspected that the scam money was funneled through a network of intermediaries using hawala channels. The authorities suspect that former Minister Nagendra orchestrated the deals through these intermediaries.

Nagendra Faces Intense Questioning

On Thursday, ED officials questioned Nagendra at his flat in Dollars Colony, Bengaluru, asking hundreds of questions related to the scam. Nagendra reportedly did not provide satisfactory answers and remained evasive.

Following allegations against him in connection with the scam, Nagendra, who was Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister, tendered his resignation on June 6.

“I’m being brought from my home…I don’t know anything,” Nagendra told reporters as he was being taken to the ED office.

The illegal money transfer issue, involving the Corporation, came to the fore, after its accounts superintendent, Chandrasekharan P killed himself on May 26.

He left behind a note claiming unauthorised transfer of Rs 187 crore belonging to the Corporation from its bank account; from that, Rs 88.62 crore was illegally moved to various accounts allegedly belonging to “well-known” IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank among others.

Chandrasekharan has named the Corporation’s now-suspended Managing Director J G 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 has constituted an SIT headed by Manish Kharbikar, Additional Director General of Police, Economic Offences, at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), to conduct the probe.

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.

(With PTI inputs)