
The Youth Empowerment, Sports, and Tribal Welfare Minister, B Nagendra, announced that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has launched an investigation into the case involving the illegal transfer of Corporation funds amounting to Rs 87 crore.
Facing criticism from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after an official from the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation died by suicide, Minister B Nagendra denied any involvement in the incident and instead pointed fingers at bank officials for the unlawful transfer of funds.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Nagendra revealed that the CID has taken charge of the investigation into the illegal transfer of Corporation funds, totaling Rs 87 crore.
The government has already managed to recover Rs 26.5 crore on Monday, and the remaining Rs 50 crore will be transferred by the bank by Tuesday evening. Nagendra assured reporters that the remaining amount will be transferred by the end of this month.
The superintendent at the Corporation, Chandrashekaran P, tragically took his own life on Sunday and left behind a death note, alleging that senior officials had coerced him into opening a parallel account to divert funds from the Corporation’s primary account based on “oral instructions from a minister.”
The funds were allegedly transferred from one Union Bank of India account to another under the direction of J G Padmanabha, the Managing Director of the Corporation.
Parashuram G Duragannavar, the MD and accounts officer at the Corporation, as well as Shuchismitha Ravul, Chief Manager at Union Bank of India, were also named in the FIR filed based on the contents of the death note.
Chandrashekaran also accused Ravul of refusing to provide him with cheque books and other documents related to the account where the funds were illegally transferred. Realizing on May 23 that the entire amount in the account had been withdrawn using the joint signatures of Padmanabha and Durgannavar, the official felt trapped and decided to take his own life out of fear of facing the consequences.
Nagendra mentioned that Padmanabha had filed a complaint, alleging that his signature had been forged and that the money was transferred between accounts without his knowledge. The Minister argued that this indicated the involvement of bank officials in the fraudulent scheme, claiming that Padmanabha did not receive any official messages from the bank regarding the transfer of funds from the primary account to another account. Prior to the alleged illegal transfer, the primary account had a balance of Rs 187.3 crore.
“If found guilty, we will recommend the dismissal of the Managing Directors,” declared Nagendra. He also denied issuing any oral instructions mentioned in the death note, stating that all his communications regarding such matters are in writing. Nagendra emphasized that the transfer of such a significant amount of money would require approval from the Corporation Board, and he clarified that no board meeting had taken place prior to the transfers.
Meanwhile, the BJP continued to demand the resignation of Minister B Nagendra in response to the incident. BJP State President B Y Vijayendra insisted that the victim had blamed the department minister for his suicide and called for a judicial probe led by a sitting High Court judge.
In a post on a social media platform, the BJP Karnataka criticized the Congress government, highlighting the incident as evidence of widespread corruption. The post expressed disappointment that the government had not even offered condolences to the victim’s family, suggesting a lack of empathy from those in power.