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CID recovers ₹3.5 crore from official’s premises
Till now, ₹11.7 crore has been seized and the CID has arrested 8 in Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers investigating the alleged multi-crore scam in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation (KMVSTDC) recovered ₹3.5 crore from premises linked to managing director JG Padmanabha, officials familiar with the matter said.
“Acting on specific information, the CID officials conducted a raid that led to the discovery of the cash on Thursday. This latest recovery brings the total amount seized from the accused to ₹11.7 crore. So far, the CID has arrested eight people in connection with the scam,” said a senior officer.
The suicide of a state government employee has unravelled a scam of ₹94.73 crore from a government corporation by officials of the nationalised bank in Karnataka. According to the probe so far, the officials of the bank used the model code of conduct (MCC), which mandates no communication between the bank and corporation to cover up the swindling of funds and even used signatures collected from the corporation’s officials to forge documents, say investigations.
While the government constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case, the Union Bank of India handed over the matter to the CBI.
According to the police, the deceased returned from Bengaluru to his hometown in Shivamogga on Friday for the weekend and he died by suicide on Sunday when no one was home. The death came to light at around 5 pm on Sunday, and later, the police found the suicide note in a book near the TV table. While the complaint lodged by the officials of the KMVSTDC has alleged the unauthorised transfer of ₹94.73 crore was carried out by eight officials of the Union Bank of India’s MG road branch, the suicide note has alleged involvement of officials of the corporation.
Among those arrested earlier were Satyanarayana Verma and Chandra Mohan from Andhra Pradesh, who were identified as middlemen. They facilitated the transfer of funds through multiple bank accounts. Their arrest led to the recovery of ₹8.2 crore. The investigation revealed their involvement through Satyanarayana Itakari, chairman of a credit cooperative bank in Hyderabad, who was previously arrested for aiding the accused in opening multiple bank accounts to enable the illegal transactions.
The state Tribal Welfare Minister B Nagendra has already resigned in this connection.
