Bhovi Corporation scam: CID arrests ex-MD's sister, who 'got Rs 1.25 cr of swindled money'

Bengalru: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested the sister of a former managing director of the scam-hit Bhovi Development Corporation. 

The agency last week arrested R Mangala, who works at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and is the sister of R Leelavathi, the corporation’s managing director from 2021 to 2022. 

After arresting Mangala, the CID also detained Leelavathi and produced her before the court but the magistrate said she couldn’t be arrested. 

A well-placed CID source who monitored the investigations said that Mangala’s arrest came after their trail of misappropriated funds led to her bank account. In 2021, Mangala allegedly received Rs 1.25 crore out of the funds sanctioned to the corporation. 

“Mangala was arrested because her account received such a large amount from the corporation’s fund. But Leelavathi cannot be arrested based on the sections invoked in the FIR,” the source told DH. 

While the state government has accepted CID’s request to invoke the Prevention of Corruption Act to the FIRs filed in connection with the case, a Bengaluru court ruled that the PC Act cannot be invoked. 

According to the officer, Mangala has to be booked under the PC Act, which investigators are barred from invoking. 

Mangala was arrested in the same case when it was probed by the now-defunct Anti-Corruption Bureau. She got bail a few days later. 

The CID is examining thousands of bank statement pages to identify the conduit of bank accounts through which the misappropriated funds were transferred. With more than 100 mule accounts used to transfer the misappropriated funds, the CID is planning to identify the accounts that received large sums of money. 

Account holders that received large sums will be tracked down and arrested by the CID, sources said.