Karnataka BJP President B Y Vijayendra with other party leaders and workers during a protest demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the alleged scam in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Ltd., in Bengaluru.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the alleged multi-crore scam at the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation has filed a preliminary charge sheet against 12 accused.
The SIT has charged J G Padmanabha, ex-MD of the corporation; Parashuram Durgannanavar, the former accounts officer; Sathyanarayana Etakari, the chairman of First Finance Credit Co Society Limited; Nekkunte Nagaraj, acquaintance of ex-minister Nagendra, who is currently in judicial custody after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED); and Nageshwar Rao, the brother-in-law of Nagaraj under IPC Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record).
The others who were charged are M Chandramohan, Gadiraju Satyanarayana Varma and Saiteja from Hyderabad; GK Jagadish, from Shivamogga; Teja Thammaiah, from Bengaluru; Pittala Srinivasa and Khaki Srinivasa Rao from Andhra Pradesh. The charge sheet of seven volumes and 3,072 pages was filed before the 3rd Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Court, the SIT said on Monday.
The SIT is investigating eight cases in connection with the scam. The misappropriation of funds came to light after accounts superintendent Chandrashekhar died by suicide on May 26 at his residence in Shivamogga.
Rs 49.96 crore seized
Officials said that the seizures so far amounted to Rs 49,96,92,918. Of this, Rs 16.83 crore was cash and Rs 11.70 crore was gold weighing 16.25 kg. Police also impounded Lamborghini Urus and Mercedes Benz worth an estimated Rs 4.51 crore.
During the probe, the SIT had found that the misappropriated Rs 89.6 crore was transferred from the Union Bank of India’s MG Road branch to 18 bank accounts belonging to First Finance Credit Co-Operative Society Limited in Hyderabad.
“This was the first level. At the second level, the money was further transferred from the 18 accounts to the 197 accounts, which were subsequently frozen by the probe team,” a senior officer said.