The Enforcement Directorate Friday night arrested former 52-year-old Karnataka minister and Congress leader B Nagendra in connection with a money laundering probe related to the misappropriation of Rs 94.73 crore in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Limited.
According to sources, the arrest process was being formalized and the four-time MLA would be produced before a court on Saturday. Nagendra is accused of embezzling funds for his benefit while serving as the minister of this department. He was questioned for more than 13 hours before being held.
He is a Congress MLA from the Bellary Rural constituency.
This arrest is related to the investigation of the alleged scam in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation, in which funds amounting to approximately Rs 88 crores were allegedly misappropriated.
Following raids on several of his associated locations from July 10-12, Nagendra was brought to the ED office in Shantinagar, Bengaluru, for interrogation on the morning of July 12.
This alleged scam came to light when an employee of the corporation, N. Chandrasekharan, committed suicide on May 26, citing the embezzlement of funds in his suicide note and blaming the minister for it. Nagendra was overseeing the corporation as the Minister for Scheduled Tribe Welfare in the Karnataka government.
Following the revelation of the alleged scam, the Minister resigned on June 6. Three agencies—SIT, CBI, and ED—are investigating this case. The SIT has arrested 11 people and seized Rs 14.5 crores of the allegedly embezzled amount.
On July 9, a day before the ED’s raid, the SIT interrogated Nagendra and Basangouda Daddal, a Congress MLA from the Raichur Rural constituency and the chairman of the corporation. Following B. Nagendra’s arrest, the possibility of Basangouda Daddy’s arrest also looms large.
According to the police complaint filed by the ST Corporation officials, some of the corporation officials allegedly forged signatures and illegally transferred Rs 94,73,08,500 to various accounts. The FIR also alleges that the corporation did not receive any intimation of these transactions.
