Karnataka High Court quashes FIR against ED officials probing Valmiki Corporation scam

On July 22, the Bengaluru police registered an FIR against two ED officers Murali Kannan and Manoj Mittal for allegedly forcing the complainant to name Nagendra and Siddaramaiah in the Valmiki scam case.

Nagendra was arrested by the ED on July 12 under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and the court chose a preventive measure in the form of detention for 14 days.

The alleged fraud came to light in May this year after the accounts manager of the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, Chandrashekhar, committed suicide at his residence. Chandrashekhar left a note about the misappropriation of welfare funds.

Soon after, the Karnataka government set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the allegations, while the ED launched a separate investigation.

According to the ED, about Rs 90 crore was illegally transferred from the bank account of Valmiki Corporation to several unauthorized accounts.