Karnataka BJP leaders will gherao Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s residence in Bengaluru on July 3 and demand his resignation in connection with an alleged illegal money transfer scam involving a government corporation, party state president B.Y. Vijayendra said on Saturday.
The BJP on Friday staged a statewide protest against the Congress government over the issue and demonstrated in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in almost all the districts.
The illegal money transfer case involving the corporation came to light after its accounts superintendent Chandrasekhar P. committed suicide on May 26, leaving behind a death note.
The note claimed unauthorised transfer Rs 187 crore was withdrawn from the corporation’s bank account, and Rs 187 crore was withdrawn from it. Rs 88.62 crore was illegally transferred to various accounts allegedly belonging to “well-known” IT companies and a Hyderabad-based co-operative bank, among others.
Chandrasekhar has named the corporation’s now-suspended managing director J G Padmanabha, accounts officer Parashuram G Durugannavar and Union Bank of India chief manager Suchismita Rawal in the note, and also said that the “minister” had issued verbal orders to transfer the money.
Scheduled Tribe Welfare Minister B Nagendra had resigned on June 6 following allegations against him in connection with the scam.
Vijayendra said, “The scam and corruption happened in the Valmiki Vikas Nigam. The BJP is continuously agitating against it. As a result of our agitation, Minister Nagendra had to resign. Many things are written in Chandrasekhar’s suicide note, but it seems that the state government has not taken this matter seriously yet.”
Talking to reporters here, he said the BJP will continue its agitation against this big scam in which the Congress government has looted the money meant for the welfare of the Valmiki and other Scheduled Tribe communities.
Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil and Valmiki Corporation Chairman Basanagouda Daddal will have to resign. Not only this, the Chief Minister will also have to resign, because Vijayendra said that the Rs 187 crore scam would not have happened without his knowledge as the finance portfolio was also with him and the Lok Sabha elections were underway at that time.
“So on July 3, all our MLAs will gherao the CM’s residence in Bengaluru. Never before has such a big scam taken place in the state. Money meant for the welfare of the ST community has been misused,” he said.
“There is talk that several fake accounts were created and the money was used for the Lok Sabha elections,” he said, claiming that some people have received death threats in connection with the case.
The state government has constituted an SIT headed by Additional Director General of Police (Economic Offences) Manish Kharbikar in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to conduct the probe.
The Mumbai-headquartered Union Bank of India had also filed a complaint with the CBI regarding embezzlement of the corporation’s funds belonging to its MG Road branch, following which the premier investigating agency had launched the probe.
