The Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has spurned the Special Investigation Team (SIT) scrutiny concerning the unlawful monetary transaction episode involving the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Ltd, advocating for the case’s transfer to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Additionally, the party has urged the immediate ousting of Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister B Nagendra, prompted by accusations linked to the incident. The provincial administration, on Friday, commissioned a four-person SIT unit chaired by Manish Kharbikar, Additional Director General of Police, Economic Offences, stationed at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Bengaluru, to spearhead the investigation.
“I vociferously call for a CBI inquest and renounce the SIT scrutiny in the interests of openness and to ensure the genuine perpetrators face legal repercussions. Furthermore, we press for the immediate removal of the implicated Minister B Nagendra from his ministerial post,” articulated state BJP President B Y Vijayendra in a communication on ‘X’.
The unlawful financial transaction surfaced subsequent to the demise of Chandrashekhar P, the accounts superintendent at the Corporation, who succumbed to suicide on May 26, leaving behind a suicide note. The missive unveiled the unauthorized transfer of Rs 187 crore from the corporation’s bank account, with Rs 88.62 crore illicitly redirected to various accounts purportedly affiliated with “well-known” IT enterprises and a cooperative bank headquartered in Hyderabad.
The deceased official identified the Corporation’s presently suspended Managing Director J G Padmanabh, accounts officer Parashuram G Durugannavar, and Union Bank of India Chief Manager Suchismita Rawal in the note, while indicating that the “Minister” had orally sanctioned the fund transfers.
Taking aim at the Congress administration, Vijayendra queried, “Will the Siddaramaiah government take the initiative to compute and elucidate the degree of corruption entangled in this governance? 87 crores out of the Sanctioned Rs 187 crores – A flawless 50%?” The Rampant Corruption divulged by the deceased employee within the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation merely scratches the surface of a larger predicament, he contended.
“The misappropriation of governmental funds hints at a broader conspiracy orchestrated by the Karnataka Congress government, involving ministers, and further corroborates our assertion that Congress regards Karnataka as a cash machine to bankroll its authorities in Delhi!”