MUDA case: police team may go to Singapore

An ongoing investigation into the alleged misappropriation of several crore rupees of the urban development authorities at Mandya and Ramanagaram-Channapatna has revealed that a Singapore-based stockbroker had received around Rs. 8 crore from the accused.

The accused persons allegedly siphoned off Rs. 5 crore from the Mandya Urban Development Authority (MUDA), while they swindled at least Rs. 9.9 crore from the Ramanagaram-Channapatna Urban Development Authority (RCUDA) last year.

The then Commissioners H.S. Shivaramu (MUDA) and M. Chidananda (RCUDA), Congress leader Kebballi Anand and several others were allegedly involved in the scam.

The accused, during the course of investigation, revealed that they had invested huge sums in share market through a Singaporean stockbroker, according to Borase Bhushan Gulabrao, Superintendent of Police, who spoke to

The Hindu here.

Mandya Deputy Superintendent of Police B.J. Shobharani, who leads the investigating team, sent an email to the stockbroker, identified as Muralidhar, in July and instructed him to appear before the police within the stipulated time, Mr. Gulabrao said. However, the stockbroker has neglected to respond.

Stockbroker

Meanwhile, another officer, who is familiar with the investigation, said that the Police Department is contemplating sending a team to Singapore to trace the stockbroker.

Muralidhar is a native of Tamil Nadu and has been staying in Singapore since several years.

Muralidhar is a green cardholder in Singapore, the officer said.

The accused revealed that they had invested around Rs. 8 crore in the share market through Mr. Muralidhar, but did not furnish any documents pertaining to the transactions, the officer said.

“We will investigate whether the stock-broker had personally collected the money from the accused or collected through the hawala network,” the officer said.

The police will start an investigation into the suspected hawala transactions to crack the case and also to trace Muralidhar, the officer said.

The case is being investigated by the Mandya police.

However, the State government, according to the police officers here, transferred the investigation to the CID, considering its gravity.