The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday argued raids at various places belonging to Congress MP from Bellary, E Tukaram, and three party MLAs in a money laundering case relating to a purported Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation (KMVSTDC) scam. These searches were officially confirmed to be carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
It searched five places in Bellary and three in Bengaluru, including the house of MP Tukaram and Congress MLAs Nara Bharath Reddy (Bellary City), J N Ganesh (Kampli), and N T Srinivas (Kudligi). The ED is looking into claims that the money stolen in the KMVSTDC was used in the election, to give out money to voters and party workers in Bellary in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The investigation by the ED is grounded on FIRs registered by the Karnataka Police as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had indicated that large amounts of money to the tune of several crores of rupees were siphoned off of the accounts of the Valmiki Corporation to fictitious bank accounts and later laundered using shell companies.
Established in the year 2006, the KMVSTDC aims at carrying out welfare schemes relating to the socio-economic development of the Scheduled Tribe populations in Karnataka. The scandal was revealed after the accounts superintendent of the corporation, Chandrasekharan P, died suspiciously on May 21, 2023. In his suicide note, he claimed embezzlement of corporate funds on a grand scale.
The ED had earlier arrested former Tribal Welfare Minister of Karnataka B Nagendra and five others who were related to the scam. Nagendra, though now bailed, continues to insist that funds had been moved by the managing director of the corporation, J G Padmanabha, without his knowledge or the approval of the board. Nagendra has defended himself by saying that he did not get any personal advantage through the scam.
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