Karnataka Legislature secretary S Murthy suspended on charge of financial indiscipline
Bengaluru,Dec 29: The Karnataka Legislative Assembly Secretary S Murthy has been suspended, pending a departmental inquiry, on charges of financial indiscipline during the 2016 and 2017 winter sessions of the state legislature in Belagavi.
An official order announcing the action said that he would remain under suspension as per the 'Karnataka Civil Service (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules.'
The alleged financial indiscipline is said to have led to excess expenditure during the sessions.
Terming the allegations as "baseless," Murthy said that he would move court, challenging his suspension.
"I have been accused of misleading the then Speaker, but it is not true," he told PTI.
"Has the then Speaker K B Koliwad told them (committee) that I have misled him?" he asked.
The present Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar had ordered a probe into charges of financial misappropriation, following which a five-member team, headed by the Karnataka State Audit and Accounts Department Additional Director submitted a report earlier this month.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the winter session at Belagavi on December 21, Kumar had said that "We are not happy about huge money that was spent last time, so we tried curtailing on it while not compromising on quality.
Compared to last year, we have been able to reduce the spending by about Rs 8 crore-10 crore this time.... last year according to information that I have, it had gone up to Rs 20 crore-22 crore," he had said.
Prior to the winter session,Murthy was stripped of his administrative and financial powers and a special officer appointed in his place, leaving him with only the session duty.
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3 officials of private banks arrested in Gujarat in Rs 2,500 crore cyber fraud; 20 held so far
Rajkot (PTI): Three officials of leading private banks were arrested for their alleged involvement in a Rs 2,500-crore cyber fraud racket in Gujarat's Rajkot district, bringing the number of those held so far in the case to 20, police said on Monday.
Those arrested were identified as Maulik Kamani, a personal manager at Yes Bank in Padadhari; Kalpesh Dangariya, a manager at Axis Bank in Jamnagar; and Anurag Baldha, a personal banker with HDFC Bank, Rajkot (Rural) Superintendent of Police Vijay Gurjar said.
Dangariya and Baldha were previously employed with Yes Bank, he added.
Kamani allegedly assisted the earlier arrested accused in opening and managing suspicious accounts. He also helped bypass banking alerts triggered by high-value transactions by submitting additional documentation to keep accounts active, the SP said.
Kamani was allegedly involved in cash withdrawals that were later routed through hawala channels (illegal money transfer system), supported by digital evidence recovered from his mobile device, he added.
Dangariya is accused of facilitating the opening of fraudulent accounts using fake or misrepresented identities, police said.
He also assisted in structuring documentation, including Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-related papers, to prevent transactions from being flagged as suspicious, they said.
On the other hand, Baldha opened new accounts after verification and certification processes as part of the racket, Gurjar informed.
All the three accused are in police custody, while others are in jail under judicial remand, SP said.
So far, police have identified 85 bank accounts linked to the racket with 535 complaints filed on the cyber crime portal.
The total transaction linked to the cyber fraud exceeds Rs 2,500 crore, police said.
The earlier fraud amount was pegged by police at Rs 1,500 crore.
