Enforcement Directorate moves Karnataka High Court for cancellation of bail granted to former Minister B. Nagendra in Valmiki corporation case

The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday ordered issue of notice to B. Nagendra, MLA, on a petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking cancellation of bail granted to him by a special court in a case of alleged money laundering initiated by the ED based on the case of alleged misappropriation of crores of rupees of Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Ltd.

Mr. Nagendra, who was serving as Minister for Scheduled Tribes Welfare in the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, was arrested by the ED on July 12 and named prime accused along with 14 others. The ED, in its charge sheet, had named him as “mastermind” of the alleged scam.

Grounds of bail

The Special Court of Sessions for criminal cases against former and present MLAs and MPs had on October 14 granted bail to Mr. Nagendra mainly on the ground that he was not arraigned as an accused in the charge sheet filed by the State government set up Special Investigation Team (SIT), which investigated the misappropriation case, and trial in that case has not yet been started by the jurisdictional court.

Court observes

Though the ED claimed to have unearthed massive documents, the Special Court noted that “there is no iota of material available in the predicate offence [the original case of misappropriation registered by the State police in which charge sheet was filed by the SIT] to indicate that the proceeds of crime was being passed on to” Mr. Nagendra.

Stating that the ED had not made any recoveries based at his behest to proceed against Mr. Nagendra independent of predicate offence, the Special Court, citing apex court judgments in various cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, had noted that there is no bar to grant bail to the accused.

Published - October 24, 2024 08:14 pm IST