Karnataka HC stays FIR against Nirmala Sitaraman in electoral bonds case
Bengaluru: The single bench of High Court, Karnataka on Monday stayed First Information Report (FIR) against Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitaraman, officials concerned of Enforcement Directorate (ED), New Delhi, National President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) J.P. Nadda, the State BJP President and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra, the previous Karnataka BJP President Naleel Kumar Kateel and two others registered at Tilak Nagar police station in Bengaluru city and posted the next hearing in the case to October 22.
Nirmala Sitaraman represents Karnataka in Rajya Sabha from Bharatiya Janata Party and she is the accused 1 in the case. The accused have been booked under Section 384, 120B and 34 of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In the FIR against Nirmala Sitaraman, the petitioner Adarsh R Iyer of Janaadhikara Sangharsha Parishath, Mahalakshmi Layout in Bengaluru city alleged illegal and forcible collection of donations through electoral bonds from various corporate/multinational companies to a tune of above Rs 8,000 crore in Bengaluru, Delhi, New Delhi and other places.
The FIR against Niramala Sitaraman and five others was filed by the Tilak Nagar police on Saturday on the order of 42nd Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Court on a private complaint by Adarsh R Iyer of Janaadhikara Sangharsha Parishath, Mahalakshmi Layout in Bengaluru city.
The petitioner alleged accused 1 in the case colluded with the Enforcement Directorate officials, named accused 2 in the forcible collection of donations, conducted raids and seizures on several companies and also made arrests of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Managing Directors (MDs) of corporate houses to make them buy electoral bonds through exertion of pressure on them.
Many corporate houses, the petitioner alleged, feared raids by Enforcement Directorate officials and made these corporate houses to purchase electoral bonds worth crores of rupees.
The accused persons mainly accused 1 and accused 2 from April, 2019 to November 2022 collected Rs 230.15 crore from Corporate Aluminium and Crafer Giant, M/S Stair Light and Vedanta Company.
In addition, the petitioner alleged the accused persons collected Rs 49.5 crore from Aravind Pharma on various dates such as on July 2, 2022, November 15, 2022, January 5, 2023 and November 8, 2023.
In a similar way, the accused persons collected money through electoral bonds through exertion of force on many corporate houses, he alleged.
