Bengaluru: Former Karnataka minister B. Nagendra, arrested in connection with the Tribal Welfare Board case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), has been remanded to judicial custody till August 3.
The Special Court for MPs/MLAs in Bengaluru passed the order after ED produced him before the court on Monday. His custody with the ED had ended today.
The BJP is demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah regarding the case over his alleged involvement. The ruling and the opposition parties have discussed the case for over nine hours in three days of the Assembly session.
The Chief Minister had stated that there is no link between the case and his government. He stated that the SIT is already investigating the financial irregularities that occurred in the Tribal Welfare Board and the government has full confidence in its investigation.
The ruling party has also charged that the ED has been sent to probe the case to destabilise the Congress government in Karnataka.
The scam has been investigated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The BJP and JD-S are demanding the arrest of the chairman of the board and Congress MLA Basanagouda Daddal and Minister for Medical Education Sharan Prakash Patil.
The scam had come to light following the suicide of the accounts superintendent of the Valmiki Development Corporation, Chandrasekaran. The SIT has already arrested 12 people in connection with the case and seized cash worth Rs 34 crore, additionally, around Rs 46 crore transferred to various bank accounts have been frozen.
Nagendra, who was the Minister for Sports, Youth Empowerment and Tribal Welfare was asked to resign following the pressure from the opposition.
–IANS