E-Paper
‘Case of extortion’: Complainant attacks Nirmala Sitharaman over electoral bonds
Complainant alleges that several including the finance minister and Enforcement Directorate officials are involved in the alleged extortion case.
After a Bengaluru court ordered the filing of an FIR against Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman and others, complainant Adarsh Iyer from Janadhikar Sangharsh Parishad (JSP) alleged on Saturday that the government ‘misused ’ its power to extort large sums of money from companies.
Iyer has alleged that several people including the finance minister, Enforcement Directorate officials, BJP office bearers, BJP leader Nalin Kumar Kateel and Karnataka BJP chief BY Vijayendra are involved in the case of allegedly extorting money.
“As we all know, the Supreme Court had given a fantastic order on electoral bond where it ordered the SBI to reveal entire data. After that, many media studied and made reports that there was a clear-cut case of extortion, we went ahead and found out that it was a corruption case,” ANI quoted Iyer as saying.
Iyer said that a complaint was filed by Janadhikar Sangharsh Parishad that those in power over the ED and income tax allegedly forced companies to pay large sums, equating it to extortion.
He also expressed happiness with the recent judgment received after five months. He said that a special court has ordered an investigation under CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) section 153.
“The court has ordered an investigation under CrPC Section 153. Nirmala Sitharaman is accused number 1, ED officials of Delhi are the second, office bearers of the BJP at the national level are third, the fourth one is the state BJP ex-president and the fifth one is current BJP state chief BY Vijayendra,” added Iyer.
Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh described the court's order as a serious development, saying that both the Union finance minister and the Prime Minister must take responsibility.
"This is a very serious development because the Court has ordered an FIR against Nirmala Sitharaman over the poll bond extortion allegation. We have been saying from day one that the central government is misusing the central agencies... The responsibility must be taken by the union finance minister and also the PM," said Ghosh
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah demanded the resignation of Nirmala Sitharaman after a Bengaluru court ordered the filing of an FIR against the Union minister and other leaders for allegedly extorting money through the now-scrapped electoral bonds.
At a press conference, Siddaramaiah criticised the Karnataka BJP, questioning when they would protest against Sitharaman and demand her resignation regarding the alleged “scam.”
He also called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation if an impartial investigation was conducted, along with the resignation of Union minister and BJP leader HD Kumaraswamy.
The court ordered the Tilak Nagar police station in Bengaluru to register an FIR for the crime of extortion through electoral bonds against the Nirmala Sitharaman.
With ANI inputs
