BENGALURU: A special city court ordered issue of summons to six additional accused based on the supplementary complaint filed by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), which collected more materials in relation to the multi-crore scam in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.
Pittala Srinivasa, Gamini Chinna Raju, Velma Suresh, G Jagadeesh, Paratopia E-Commerce Pvt Ltd, represented by Makunga Moshillung Maring, and Makunga Moshillung Maring are arrayed as accused Nos. 26 to 31 respectively.
“From the supplementary prosecution complaint and documents submitted, it prima facie appeared there is sufficient material to proceed against accused No. 26 to 31,” said Judge Shivaprasad KB, Special Court for trial of criminal cases against sitting and former MPs and MLAs, ordering that summons be issued to them.
The supplementary complaint was filed by Directorate of Enforcement, which arrayed 25 accused, including former minister B Nagendra, in the primary complaint registered under Sections 44(1)(b) and 45(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
According to the special court order, Pittala Srinivasa, who was managing the accounts of accused No.2, Satyanarayana Varma, was in possession of Rs 93 lakh diverted from the corporation. The amount was seized from his personal account and bank account of his friend.
Varma asked accused No. 27, Gamini Chinna Raju, the proprietor of Saranya Bullions, to make jewellery and raise a bill in the name of his GN Industries, but there is no material to substantiate the delivery of jewellery.
However, an amount of Rs 2 crore was diverted to the account of Saranya Bullions on April 18, 2024, from Varma, and Chinna Raju did not obtain KYC documents of his customer.
Velma Suresh, accused No. 28, was in need of a bank balance of approximately Rs 45 lakh to get a US visa for his son’s higher education, and arranged the amount from other sources, and approached accused No.19 G Kishore Reddy to convert the cash. But there is no material to show such an alleged transaction.
However, an amount of Rs 45 lakh was credited from First Finance Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., which was used for layering of proceeds of crime in the scam, to Velma’s bank account maintained at the instance of Reddy.
Accused No. 29, G Jagadeesh, who allegedly handled cash flow for the main accused, received Rs 40 lakh as commission in the scam, and purchased a Toyota Innova for Rs 38 lakh, which was paid from the bank account of Ram Karthik Projects owned by accused No. 13, Thamatam Teja.
Accused No. 31 is Mukunga Moshillung Maring, the authorised signatory of the bank maintained by accused No. 30 Paratopia E-Commerce Pvt Ltd. An amount of Rs 1.50 crore was diverted to the bank account of this firm from the account of Zaliant Training and Consulting Services, one of the entities involved in diversion of the corporation’s funds, and Rs 1 crore was transferred to Alladi Rajitha, wife of accused No. 3, Etakari Sathyanarayana, out of the said amount.