The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken Karnataka Congress leader B Nagendra into custody in connection with the Valmiki Corporation scam case. Former Karnataka Minister Nagendra was taken to the probe agency’s office in Bengaluru from his residence for questioning in the case.
"I'm being brought from my home...I don't know anything," Congress MLA Nagendra reportedly said.
The ED’s action comes days after the probe agency conducted searches at Nagendra’s residence in the case.
The case in which ED has taken Nagendra into custody surfaced following the death of Chandrasekharan P, the accounts superintendent of the Corporation, on May 21.
A purported suicide note left by Chandrasekharan accused several officials of orchestrating illegal money transfers from the Corporation's accounts to various other bank accounts.
Subsequently, two officials were suspended, while Nagendra, who was Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister, resigned from his ministerial post on June 6 under mounting pressure.
Karnataka government led by Congress then formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter, which has since resulted in the arrest of 11 individuals connected to the case.
Chandrasekharan's purported suicide note alleged the unauthorised transfer of Rs 187 crore from the state-run Corporation’s bank account. Rs 88.62 crore was reportedly funnelled illegally into the accounts of several IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank.
The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) is also probing it simultaneously based on a complaint by the Union Bank of India.
