Did BJP government help Prashanth Madal get off the hook in KRIDL case?

BENGALURU: After the massive seizure of cash at the residence of Prashanth Madal, son of Channagiri BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa, question are now being raised on whether the BJP government protected him in the illegal transfer of money in the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL) case.

Earlier, in KRIDL, the illegal money of Rs 55 crore was transferred to a private account of Indian Overseas Bank in Mangaluru. A departmental inquiry had led to the suspension of four officers in 2017 and the inquiry had recommended a CID investigation. At that time, Prashanth Madal was deputy finance officer KRIDL. It is said that at that time, the BJP government had dropped his name from the inquiry.

A total of Rs 2.02 crore was found at Prashanth’s office and Rs 6.10 crore was found at his residence.

During the departmental inquiry, of the four people, Prashant was cleared from the case on the grounds that he was not a member of the finance committee and was not involved in the meetings. The Panchayat Raj Secretary had ordered a departmental inquiry only against the other three members. There are allegations that Prashanth escaped any action as K S Eshwarappa was Rural Development Minister and B S Yediyurappa was Chief Minister at that time. Madal Virupakshappa is known to be close to Yediyurappa.

Lokayukta police source revealed that they have prepared more than 50 questions related to documents that they recovered during the raid. Ever since the raid on his son Prashanth Madal, Channagiri MLA Madal Virupakshappa has remained untraceable. The Lokayukta police are searching for the MLA at different locations, including Channagiri, Madal, Davangere and Shivamogga, but are yet to get any breakthrough.