BENGALURU: Rowdy sheeter-turned-politician Nagaraj, who is an accused in an illegal currency conversion racket, has released a video in which he said that he was pressured to convert old currency notes into new ones by some politicians.
The video was shared by his legal advisers with the media on Saturday. The New Indian Express has not been able to verify the authenticity of the video in which Nagaraj has named chief minister Siddaramaiah's special personal assistant Manjunath, KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, BJP MP PC Mohan and a few IPS officers.
"I am being framed again. Dinesh Gundu Rao, Manjunath, PC Mohan, Kishor, a car dealer based in Sadashivanagar; Madhu, an advocate who was recently arrested in Vidhan Soudha for carrying Rs 2 crore cash, and his brother too are involved in the conspiracy. Manjunath had requested me a lot of times to change old currency notes to new ones. He pressured me saying that IPS officers’ money is stuck and I should co-operate in converting them. But I refused," said Nagaraj, aka Bomb Naga, in the video.
In the video spanning an hour, Nagaraj said that he had never been to Hennur or nearby areas in recent times, but police registered a fake abduction case against him. Throughout the recording, Nagaraj challenged the police to prove their allegations.
"Police eagerly wanted to kill me in an encounter on April 14. I was luckily not at my home when they conducted a raid. If I was there, I would be dead by now. It is a politically motivated act and a well-planned conspiracy. The government and other politicians are trying to end my political career. In 2009, I lost the elections by just 500 votes against Dinesh Gundu Rao in Gandhinagar constituency. If I contest elections this time, I will defeat Dinesh Gundu Rao. This is why they are conspiring against me," said Nagaraj.
On April 14, 2017, a team led by deputy commissioner of police (West) Ajay Hilori, raided Nagaraj's residence in Srirampuram and seized demonetized currency of Rs 14.8 crore. A case was registered against Nagaraj, who managed to escape from the police and sought anticipatory bail in sessions court. The court then adjourned the plea to April 24. Senior police officials held a meeting with home minister G Parameshwara to discuss the latest developments.