BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar on Saturday said the state government will not protect anyone in the illegal money transfer case involving Karnataka Maharishi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation Limited and will take action as per law.
The statement came hours after the opposition BJP demanded a CBI probe into the illegal money transfer case and the dismissal of Scheduled Tribe Welfare Minister B Nagendra.
Siddaramaiah told reporters in response to a question on the case related to Minister Nagendra and the BJP demanding his removal, "We will not save anyone... No matter who he (involved in the case) is, we will take action as per the law." Will take action.”
The case of illegal transfer of funds came to light when the Corporation's Accounts Superintendent Chandrashekhar P. committed suicide on May 26 and left behind a death note.
It revealed unauthorized transfers of Rs 187 crore from the corporation's bank account and of that, Rs 88.62 crore was allegedly illegally transferred to various accounts belonging to "well-known" IT companies and the Hyderabad-based Co-operative Bank.Chandrashekhar, in the note, has named the corporation's now suspended managing director J Padmanabha, accounts officer Parashuram G Durugannavar and Suchismita Rawal, chief manager of Union Bank of Indi, and also said that the "minister" had given a verbal request to transfer the money. Orders were issued.
The state government has constituted a four-member SIT team headed by Manis Kharbikar, Additional Director General of Police, Economic Offences, in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Bengaluru to conduct the investigation.
Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said that the government will not protect anyone and no one will be spared.
Addressing journalists here, he said, "BJP is doing politics, I will not question them. Such things have happened during BJP rule also.Basavaraj Bomma (former CM) knows about it, everyone else also knows it… We are investigating the matter, we will not spare anyone.”
Asked why the Congress, while in the opposition, had sought the resignation of minister KS Eshwarappa following the suicide of a contractor bearing his name, but now it was not taking action against its own minister, Shivakumar said that in this matter There is no direct reference to Minister Nagendra.
"If any document or evidence or any involvement is found, whatever needs to be done, the government will definitely do. The government is transparent, there is no question of sparing anyone. We will take action.We will protect and safeguard the interests of the government. Money is important, our officials are trying to figure it out," he said.
Deputy CM further said that one or two days' time is needed. "After that the government will definitely take action. Some arrests have been made, action has already been taken," he said.The minister has spoken to me and the CM, we are investigating it."
On the demand for a CBI probe, he said there is a procedure that if a bank fraud case involves more than Rs 3 crore (Rs 3 crore in public sector banks), the case will naturally go to the CBI.
"Whether we give or not. There is a process, we also know, we are ready to cooperate. They (CBI) should also investigate without politics.At present the case is not with the CBI, we are investigating,” he added.
Meanwhile, amid media reports that a bank account in the name of IT firm Happy's Minds Technologies Limited is one of the "beneficiaries" of funds embezzled by the corporation, the company clarified in a statement that the bank account does not belong to it.
“We have no affiliation with the bank account or the mentioned branch (RBL Bank, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, IFSC Code RATN0000341) and this is also confirmed by RBL Bank officials. We strongly oppose these malicious attempts to tarnish the reputation of our company. Refute from.,” it said in a statement.
“We are confident that a thorough investigation will reveal the truth and expose those responsible for these false and baseless allegations. We are also pursuing all legal avenues available to us to protect the reputation of our company."
The statement came hours after the opposition BJP demanded a CBI probe into the illegal money transfer case and the dismissal of Scheduled Tribe Welfare Minister B Nagendra.
Siddaramaiah told reporters in response to a question on the case related to Minister Nagendra and the BJP demanding his removal, "We will not save anyone... No matter who he (involved in the case) is, we will take action as per the law." Will take action.”
The case of illegal transfer of funds came to light when the Corporation's Accounts Superintendent Chandrashekhar P. committed suicide on May 26 and left behind a death note.
It revealed unauthorized transfers of Rs 187 crore from the corporation's bank account and of that, Rs 88.62 crore was allegedly illegally transferred to various accounts belonging to "well-known" IT companies and the Hyderabad-based Co-operative Bank.Chandrashekhar, in the note, has named the corporation's now suspended managing director J Padmanabha, accounts officer Parashuram G Durugannavar and Suchismita Rawal, chief manager of Union Bank of Indi, and also said that the "minister" had given a verbal request to transfer the money. Orders were issued.
The state government has constituted a four-member SIT team headed by Manis Kharbikar, Additional Director General of Police, Economic Offences, in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Bengaluru to conduct the investigation.
Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said that the government will not protect anyone and no one will be spared.
Addressing journalists here, he said, "BJP is doing politics, I will not question them. Such things have happened during BJP rule also.Basavaraj Bomma (former CM) knows about it, everyone else also knows it… We are investigating the matter, we will not spare anyone.”
Asked why the Congress, while in the opposition, had sought the resignation of minister KS Eshwarappa following the suicide of a contractor bearing his name, but now it was not taking action against its own minister, Shivakumar said that in this matter There is no direct reference to Minister Nagendra.
"If any document or evidence or any involvement is found, whatever needs to be done, the government will definitely do. The government is transparent, there is no question of sparing anyone. We will take action.We will protect and safeguard the interests of the government. Money is important, our officials are trying to figure it out," he said.
Deputy CM further said that one or two days' time is needed. "After that the government will definitely take action. Some arrests have been made, action has already been taken," he said.The minister has spoken to me and the CM, we are investigating it."
On the demand for a CBI probe, he said there is a procedure that if a bank fraud case involves more than Rs 3 crore (Rs 3 crore in public sector banks), the case will naturally go to the CBI.
"Whether we give or not. There is a process, we also know, we are ready to cooperate. They (CBI) should also investigate without politics.At present the case is not with the CBI, we are investigating,” he added.
Meanwhile, amid media reports that a bank account in the name of IT firm Happy's Minds Technologies Limited is one of the "beneficiaries" of funds embezzled by the corporation, the company clarified in a statement that the bank account does not belong to it.
“We have no affiliation with the bank account or the mentioned branch (RBL Bank, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, IFSC Code RATN0000341) and this is also confirmed by RBL Bank officials. We strongly oppose these malicious attempts to tarnish the reputation of our company. Refute from.,” it said in a statement.
“We are confident that a thorough investigation will reveal the truth and expose those responsible for these false and baseless allegations. We are also pursuing all legal avenues available to us to protect the reputation of our company."