Bengaluru, 12 July

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday took former minister B Nagendra into custody, as part of a money-laundering probe linked to the alleged irregularities in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Limited, official sources said.

He was taken to ED office here from his residence for questioning, the sources said.

Following allegations against him in connection with the scam, Nagendra, who was Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister, tendered his resignation on 6 June.

"I'm being brought from my home...I don't know anything," Nagendra told reporters as he was being taken to the ED office.

The ED has carried out searches for the last two days at several places, including at the premises of former Karnataka Minister Nagendra and ruling Congress MLA Basanagouda Daddal, who is Chairman of the Corporation.

The agency covered around 20 locations in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra as part of a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.

The illegal money transfer issue, involving the Corporation, came to the fore, after its accounts superintendent, Chandrasekharan P killed himself on 26 May.

He left behind a note claiming unauthorised transfer of Rs 187 crore belonging to the Corporation from its bank account; from that, Rs 88.62 crore was illegally moved to various accounts allegedly belonging to "well-known" IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank among others.

The State government has constituted an SIT headed by Manish Kharbikar, Additional Director General of Police, Economic Offences, at the Criminal Investigation Department, to conduct the probe. PTI