ED chargesheet in Valmiki Corporation case lists former minister Nagendra, Daddal left out

BENGALURU: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), which has filed a voluminous 4,903-page chargesheet in the Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation scam, has named 25 people as accused including former minister B Nagendra, Satyanarayana Varma, Satyanarayana Itakari and corporation managing director J Padmanabh.

The chargesheet says Nagendra held meetings outside the office and got new bank accounts opened to which crores of rupees of corporation funds were diverted on his directive. The ED has found incriminating evidence on the phones of Nagendra and his personal assistant Vijay, including photos of large amounts of cash and accounts for the money used during the Lok Sabha election.

The ED also said Nagendra, Vijay and the then minister’s other associates did not give satisfactory replies about the cash or the funds transferred to the bank accounts. The ED also came across records of booth-wise distribution of money.

The chargesheet also says the Valmiki Corporation funds were transferred in violation of its rules and that of the finance department and there was an internal conspiracy to loot the money and destroy evidence. The probe has revealed that Rs 84 crore was misused and that Rs 20.19 crore was used for the Ballari Lok Sabha election.

The preliminary chargesheet, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and lists 15 witnesses while investigation is continuing. Interestingly, the name of corporation chairman Basanagounda Daddal is missing in the preliminary chargesheet and may include it in the supplementary chargesheet.