FIR against Sitharaman over poll bond complaint registered
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Police have registered a first information report (FIR) against Indian minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Bharatiya Janata Party’s state chief BY Vijayendra, among others, for misusing the electoral bond scheme to extort money from companies.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the FIR was filed based on directives 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, who was the party’s Karnataka chief between 2019 and 2023.
The directives 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 finance minister, had used the central law enforcement agency to “conduct raids, seizures and arrests to compel the corporates to pay.”
