FIR against Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP Karnataka chief for alleged extortion using electoral bonds
Sitharaman, among others, used the Enforcement Directorate to ‘conduct raids, seizures and arrests to compel the corporates to pay’, the complainant claimed.
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The Karnataka Police on Saturday filed a first information report against Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Bharatiya Janata Party’s state chief BY Vijayendra, among others, for allegedly misusing the electoral bond scheme to extort money from companies, The Hindu reported.
The first information report was filed based on directions from a Bengaluru court under the Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to punishment for extortion (384) and criminal conspiracy (120B), read with acts done with common intention (34).
The FIR also named senior BJP leader Nalin Kumar Kateel. Kateel was the party’s Karnataka chief between 2019 and 2023.
The directions of the 42 Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Bengaluru came on a private complaint by activist Adarsh R Iyer of non-governmental organisation Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Parishath.
Iyer claimed that Sitharaman and officials of the Enforcement Directorate connived with leaders and officer bearers of the BJP to commit “extortion under the guise and garb of electoral bonds and benefited to the tune of 8,000 and more crores of INR [Indian Rupees]”, Bar and Bench reported.
The complainant also claimed that Sitharaman, the Union finance minister, had used the central law enforcement agency to “conduct raids, seizures and arrests to compel the corporates to pay”, The Hindu reported.
The Enforcement Directorate reports to the finance ministry.
Fearing raids, several companies were forced to purchase electoral bonds, which were encashed by the Hindutva party, the...
