After Valmiki scam, illegal fund transfer scam hits Wakf Board; complaint lodged
Bengaluru (PTI): Close on the heels of the Valmiki Corporation scam where a sum of between Rs 88 crore and Rs 187 crore was misappropriated, the Karnataka State Board of Auqaf has lodged a police complaint against its former chief executive officer Zulfiqarulla for illegally moving over Rs 4 crore of its funds.
Incumbent CEO Meer Ahmed Abbas has accused his predecessor of causing a loss of Rs 8.03 crore in total to the state exchequer.
In a complaint to the High Grounds Police Station, Abbas said that the state government had "encroached" a Wakf property belonging to Gulbarga Dargah and paid Rs 2.29 crore in return. Further, the Wakf Board had received Rs 1.79 crore from the Religious Endowment Department (Muzrai department).
"This way, Rs 4,00,45,465 was deposited in the Indian Bank account at the Benson Town Branch. On November 26, 2016, transferred the amount to the Vijaya Bank account of the CEO, Wakf Board in Chintamani branch (in Chikkaballapura district)," the complainant said.
Abbas stated that Zulfiqarulla did not bring this transfer of money to the notice of the Wakf Board, which caused the board a loss of Rs 8.04 crore. This amount is said to have been arrived at by assuming that compound interest would have accrued on the sum of Rs 4,00,45,465 in the past eight years if it had been invested appropriately.
The complaint states that on March 31, 2022 it was deemed that the reply given by Zulfiqarulla about the alleged misappropriation of funds was unsatisfactory. However, only two years later, on June 12, 2024 did the board decide that a complaint would be filed about the matter, and accordingly a case was registered on July 6, 2024.
The complaint filed in the Waqf board scam comes close on the heels of a similar scam being brought to light recently, wherein funds were misappropriated from the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation.
Police have arrested former minister B Nagendra in the Valmiki Corporation scam, along with 11 other persons.
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Why remove Mahatma Gandhi's name, asks Priyanka on move to replace MGNREGA
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday slammed the government over its move to change the name of MGNREGA, asking what is the government's intention behind removing the name of Mahatma Gandhi who is the tallest leader not just in India but in the world.
A bill to repeal the MGNREGA and bring a new law for rural employment -- Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025 -- is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha. According to a copy of the bill, it seeks to introduce the VB-G RAM G Bill, 2025, in Parliament and repeal the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) of 2005.
Asked about the government's move, Priyanka Gandhi said, "Whenever the name of a scheme is changed there are so many changes that have to be made in offices, stationery... for which money is spent. So, what is the benefit, why it is being done?"
"Why is Mahatma Gandhi's name being removed. Mahatma Gandhi is considered the tallest leader not just in the country but in the world, so removing his name, I really don't understand what is the objective? What is their intention?" she told reporters in Parliament House complex.
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"Even when we are debating it is on other issues not the real issues of the people. Time is being wasted, money is being wasted, they are disrupting themselves," Priyanka Gandhi added.
The bill aims at establishing a "rural development framework aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047", by providing a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work.
The bill has been listed in the Lok Sabha in the supplementary list of business issued on Monday.
Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in the statement of purpose of the Bill, said MGNREGA has provided guaranteed wage-employment to rural households over the past 20 years.
However, "further strengthening has become necessary in view of the significant socio-economic transformation witnessed in the rural landscape driven by widespread coverage of the social security interventions and saturation-oriented implementation of major government schemes", he said.
#WATCH | दिल्ली: कांग्रेस सांसद प्रियंका गांधी वाड्रा ने MGNREGA का नाम बदले जाने पर कहा, "...वे महात्मा गांधी का नाम क्यों हटा रहे हैं? वे इस देश के, इतिहास के और दुनिया के सबसे बड़े नेता माने जाते हैं। मुझे समझ नहीं आ रहा इसके पीछे इनकी(सरकार की) मंशा क्या है? सदन चल नहीं रहा।… pic.twitter.com/gp5wNLllDu
— ANI_HindiNews (@AHindinews) December 15, 2025
