Valmiki corporation scam: Congress MLA B Nagendra sent to ED custody until July 18

Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) special court in Bengaluru remanded ex-minister and Congress MLA B Nagendra to ED custody till July 18.

A highly placed source with the ED confirmed to DH that the central agency initiated Nagendra's arrest procedures after taking up a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

P Prasanna Kumar, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) representing the ED, requested a 14-day custody of Nagendra. The court granted only six days and passed an order.

Nagendra denied the allegations against him and complained of ill health before the judge. The court listened to his avowal and granted only six days of custody, according to the source.

“The court has ordered the agency to conduct Nagendra’s medical examination every 24 hours till his custody ends. He should be given a break after every three hours of interrogation,” the source associated with ED told DH.

The ED officials on Friday morning hauled Nagendra to their Shanthinagar office from his Dollars Colony residence. After keeping the ex-minister in Siddaramaiah's cabinet at their office for over 12 hours, the ED initiated arrest procedures late on Friday.

The arrest of Nagendra came after over 40 hours of continuous searches in the places linked to the Congress MLA in Bengaluru and Ballari.

The ED also conducted simultaneous raids in over 15 places, including Congress MLA Basanagouda Daddal and the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation’s (KMVSTDC) office in Vasanth Nagar.

The raids at multiple locations were launched even as multiple agencies are probing the multi-crore scam at the state-run S T Development Corporation. The scam unfolded while the Ballari Rural legislator was Minister of Scheduled Tribes Welfare.

Nagendra resigned as S T welfare minister on June 6, following allegations that Rs 89.7 crore was illegally transferred from the corporation's bank account to several bank accounts in Hyderabad.

The scam surfaced after the corporation's accounts superintendent, P. Chandrashekhar, died by suicide in Shivamogga on May 26. He left behind a death note, naming some corporation officials and the "minister."

Following the death, the state government constituted an SIT headed by ADGP Manish Kharbikar to probe the allegations. The SIT has so far made 11 arrests in connection with the case.