Ex-Karnataka minister B Nagendra gets bail in Valmiki Corporation case

A special court in Bengaluru on Monday granted bail to former Karnataka minister B Nagendra, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on July 12 in connection with the Valmiki Corporation scam case.
Nagendra, a Congress MLA, was accused of misusing funds from the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.
Nagendra had resigned as Scheduled Tribes Welfare minister in May after the alleged scam came to light. He has been held in Parappana Agrahara jail since his arrest and faces charges of obstructing the investigation, including destroying mobile phones and telling others to stay silent.
The central probe agency filed a chargesheet last week, identifying Nagendra as the mastermind behind the scam. However, a special investigation team formed by the state government has not named him in its FIR.
The ED has also arrested five other individuals connected to the case.
The case centres on the alleged illegal transfer of over Rs 87 crore from the Corporation’s funds. The issue came to public attention after the Corporation’s accounts superintendent, P Chandrasekharan, died by suicide on May 26. In a six-page note, Chandrasekharan blamed senior officials for pressuring him into participating in the scam. He specifically named JG Padmanabha, the Managing Director, Parashuram, an accountant, and Shuchita, a Union Bank of India branch manager in Bengaluru.