Electoral bonds 'extortion' case: FIR quashed against ex-BJP Karnataka chief Nalin Kumar Kateel

Justice M Nagaprasanna granted relief to Kateel by quashing the FIR filed by Bengaluru police based on a complaint from city-based activist Adarsh R. Iyer.

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed criminal proceedings against former state BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel in a case involving alleged extortion and coercion of businesses to purchase electoral bonds, Deccan Herald reported.

Former state BJP president Naleen Kumar Kateel.

Justice M Nagaprasanna granted relief to Kateel by quashing the FIR filed by Bengaluru police based on a complaint from city-based activist Adarsh Iyer. “The petition is allowed. Proceedings stand quashed qua the petitioner,” the court ruled according to the report.

The FIR, which also named Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, officials from the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), BJP office bearers, and others, accused the parties of pressuring corporate entities to buy electoral bonds worth several crores, allegedly benefiting the BJP at both state and national levels.

Kateel's legal team argued that for an extortion charge to be valid, the complainant must be the victim and the accused must be the beneficiary—criteria they claimed the case did not meet, the report added.

This ruling provides a significant reprieve for Kateel, while the broader implications for other accused parties in the case remain uncertain.

Adarsh Iyer, co-president of the Janadhikara Sangharsa Parishad (JSP), filed the private complaint. “We have filed a total of 15 complaints against BJP ministers and office bearers after the Supreme Court verdict. But no action was initiated by police, which prompted us to file a complaint in court,” Iyer had stated.

(With PTI inputs)