The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday allowed an investigation by the CBI into certain aspects of the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation scam, directing the agency to be provided with certain documents and other materials.
The petition for a CBI investigation was filed by BJP leaders Basangouda Yatnal, Ramesh Jarikholi, Arvind Limbavalli, and Kumar Bangarappa. The BJP has since expelled Yatnal.
A single-judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna said in its order, “Since the prayer is for completion of investigation or taking the investigation to its logical conclusion by filing a final report before the concerned Court, I deem it appropriate to grant the prayers that are sought by the CBI in the status report. Therefore, I direct the CID, Enforcement Directorate, Central Forensic Science Laboratory and the State Forensic Science Laboratory and the concerned Court to furnish the documents and forensic images as sought for…. for the purpose of conduct of investigation and filing of a final report before the concerned Court.”
The CBI in their submissions before the court stated that further instances of fund diversions had been discovered. Rs 95 lakh had allegedly been siphoned from the Karnataka German Technical Training Institute to the account of one of the accused, Nekkanti Nagaraj. It was also alleged that he diverted Rs 2.17 crore from the Scheduled Tribes welfare department.
Former tribal welfare minister B Nagendra of the Congress was arrested in the case and released on bail later.
In November 2024, the high court rejected a petition filed by the Union Bank seeking an investigation into the embezzlement of Rs 94.73 crore in the scam. The court then observed that while an independent investigation might be appropriate, it could not be done through section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act as argued by the bank.