CM Siddaramaiah orders probe into ‘fake’ letter accusing minister of corruption in official transfers

BENGALURU: After a controversy broke out an alleged fake letter accusing Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy of corruption in official transfers, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to hand over the probe into the case to the police.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday held a detailed discussion with Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara at his home office ‘Krishna’ and decided to hand over the probe to the police to establish the authenticity of the letter. Cheluvarayaswamy had on Monday claimed that he had requested the CM to order a probe into the incident.

The CM, during his meeting with Parameshwara ahead of his meeting with a group of MLAs, discussed the contours of the probe, the source of the letter among other issues.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah paying his respects to late CM S Nijalingappa on the latter’s death anniversary in front of Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday.

Later, after paying his respects to late chief minister S Nijalingappa on his death anniversary, he said, “Cheluvarayaswamy said it is a fake letter and I have asked the police to look into it. The joint directors of the agriculture department mentioned in the letter do not exist. Hence, a probe will bring out the truth. The joint director of the department Ashok Kumar has also lodged a complaint with the police in Mandya”.

The CM also said the Udupi paramedical college case has also been handed over to the CID. “A Deputy SP was heading the investigation, but since there was a demand for a thorough probe, it was handed over to the CID”. He also accused the BJP of objecting to the CID probe and questioned if cases handed to the agency during the BJP government were closed.

On his meetings with MLAs, Siddaramiaah said there is no shortage of funds and all departments have been given disbursed money. “If there was shortage of funds, would we have implemented our guarantees? Development works will also take place and funds have been allotted for that”, he said.

On contractors approaching the governor after BBMP works were stopped, the CM clarified that projects have not been stopped, but only being investigated. “We received a lot of complaints about BBMP and BDA works, and hence we are conducting an investigation”, he added.