BENGALURU: An FIR has been registered against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, Karnataka BJP President BY Vijayendra and others by the Thilaknagar police in the city's southeast division on Saturday afternoon at 2 pm.
The FIR (Number 0224/2024) has been registered following directions from the 42 Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) of the Special Court for People's Representatives.
The court on Friday had ordered filing of FIR to the Station House Officer (SHO) of Thilaknagar police station. The FIR was registered based on a private complaint filed to the court by 50-year-old Adarsh R Iyer, the Co-President of Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Parishath (JSP).
The police have invoked sections 384 (punishment for extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The others named in the FIR are Naleen Kumar Kateel, the former state BJP president, Office bearers and others, both at BJP national and state level.
Nirmala Sitharaman is accused number one, while Kateel is accused number five and Vijayendra is accused number six.
Iyer, a resident of Mahalakshmi Layout has filed the complaint for the crime of extortion against Nirmala Sitharaman and the others through Electoral Bonds. Iyer in his complaint has stated that the accused have committed extortion under the guise and garb of electoral bonds and benefited to the tune of 8000 and more crores of Indian Rupees.
The complaint further states that the modus-operandi of the extortion was that Nirmala Sitharaman used the ED to conduct raids, seizures and arrests of various corporates, their CEOs, MDs, etc.
Fearing the raids of ED, many corporates and moneybags were coerced and coaxed into buying electoral bonds worth several crores. He has further alleged that the entire extortion racket under the garb of electoral bonds has been orchestrated hand in gloves with officials of BJP at various levels.
The complainant has also named few companies that purchased the electoral bonds after they were subjected to raids, seizures and arrests by the ED.
It may be recalled that Iyer had filed the private complaint in the court in April 2024. Before approaching the court with the private complaint, Iyer stated that he had approached the Thilaknagar police on March 30, 2024, and then approached DCP (South East) in April 2024 who failed to do the needful as per law.