The Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested two officials of Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation — former managing director J.B. Padmanabha and accountant Parushurama G. — for allegedly misappropriating funds.
The two, who were on the run, were arrested on the outskirts of Bengaluru and taken into custody after producing them before the court.
The State government had already suspended them on charges of dereliction of duty, negligence and violation of financial rules.
The multi-crore scam came to light when the accounts superintendent of the corporation P. Chandrashekaran ended his life leaving behind a suicide note, mentioning unauthorised transfer of money belonging to the corporation under pressure from the two persons.
The corporation had filed a case with the High Grounds police here against six Union Bank of India officials, alleging that they fraudulently diverted around ₹94.73 crore of its funds to other bank accounts.
‘Won’t protect anyone’
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Saturday reiterated that no one would be protected in the case. The BJP has sought the immediate dismissal of Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister B. Nagendra, following allegations against him in connection with the case.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Siddaramaiah said SIT had been formed to probe the alleged multi-crore fraud in the corporation and the law would take its own course. All those involved in the scam would be punished as per the law based on the SIT report, he said.
Mr. Shivakumar said: “We will not spare those who committed the fraud. Such incidents have happened during BJP’s rule too. We will conduct a thorough investigation. The investigating officers are chasing the money trail and we will get the money back. Some people have also been arrested in the case.”
Asked about the demand for a CBI probe into the case, the KPCC president said: “Scams of certain value directly go to the CBI and there is no role of the government in this. We will fully cooperate with the investigation.”
