Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches in four states on Wednesday, targeting the premises of former Karnataka minister and Congress leader B Nagendra and MLA B Daddal.
This operation is part of a money laundering investigation related to alleged irregularities in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Limited, according to official sources.
The ED searched around 20 locations in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and another state as part of the case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The premises of Nagendra, a former Karnataka Tribal Welfare and Sports Minister, and Daddal, a Congress MLA from Raichur rural and former chairperson of the Corporation, were among those searched.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) from the Karnataka Police CID had questioned Nagendra and Daddal on Tuesday. The alleged scam surfaced after the Corporation’s accounts superintendent, Chandrasekharan P, was found dead on May 21, leaving a suicide note that mentioned illegal transfers of money from the Corporation to various bank accounts.
Following this revelation, two officials were suspended, and under pressure, Minister Nagendra resigned on May 29. The suicide note claimed an unauthorized transfer of Rs 187 crore from the Corporation’s bank account, with Rs 88.62 crore deposited into accounts of some IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank.
While the state government has set up an SIT to investigate, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also probing the matter based on a complaint by the Union Bank of India.
