BENGALURU: Enforcement Directorate detained former Congress minister B Nagendra Friday in a money-laundering case linked to the alleged Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation scam involving Rs 94 crore.
The detention followed a two-day ED search at multiple locations linked to Nagendra, corporation chairman Basanagouda Daddal and others.Officials picked up Nagendra from his Bengaluru residence at 7am and took him to ED office. Nagendra’s houses in Bengaluru and Ballari were searched for two days. Officials quizzed him till late night, but there was no indication of his arrest.
Nagendra quit as tribal welfare minister early June after one of his aides was linked to the tribal welfare fund scam. About Rs 94 crore was allegedly transferred between Feb and May from the corporation’s bank accounts to multiple mule accounts opened using stolen identities.
The scam surfaced after a corporation employee died by suicide in May, leaving behind a note in which he detailed how he was under pressure to divert the funds. The note had referred to ‘a minister’.
Under pressure from opposition BJP and JD(S), state govt constituted a SIT of CID to probe the case. Nagendra resigned after probe revealed the role of his aide, Nekkuni Nagaraj, in the scam.
SIT has arrested 11 people, including corporation’s JG Padmanabha and Nagaraj, in the case. CBI’s banking fraud wing has registered a case. ED registered a case after SIT flagged money-laundering aspects in the scam and several BJP leaders and other organisations lodged multiple complaints with it.