Karnataka CM, 6 ministers face criminal cases: Poll watchdogs
Bengaluru, June 29: Seven Karnataka Ministers, including Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, face criminal charges ranging from forgery to causing death by negligence, said two election watchdogs in a report here on Friday.
The report by the Karnataka Election Watch and Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) was based only analysis of the poll affidavits belonging to 26 of 27 cabinet ministers, save Women and Child Development Minister Jayamala, the lone woman minister, whose affidavit was not available, ADR said.
It said that seven (27 per cent) of the 26 ministers, including Kumaraswamy have declared criminal cases against them, while four ministers, including him, face serious criminal charges.
The other six ministers are Venkatrao Nadagouda (Animal Husbandry and Fisheries), B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan (Food and Civil Supplies), D.K. Shivakumar (Water Resources and Medical Education), D.C. Thammanna (Transport), N. Mahesh (Primary and Secondary Education) and Ramesh L. Jarkiholi (Municipalities and Local Bodies).
Kumaraswamy faces serious criminal charges, including forgery for the purpose of cheating, causing disappearance of evidence, and other charges relating to criminal breach of trust.
Twenty five of the 26 ministers are crorepatis, as per the asset declarations in their poll affidavits, with Shivakumar being the richest with total assets worth Rs 840 crore.
Kumaraswamy is also among the top five ministers with highest declared assets and income, with total assets worth over Rs 160 crore.
Two of the ministers have only studied up to class 8 - with Higher Education Minister G.T. Deve Gowda being one of them.
A dozen of the 26 ministers have declared their educational qualifications to be between class 8 and 12, and 14 are graduates and above.
In a pre-poll survey by the election watchdogs, of the 2,654 candidates who were in fray for the state election, 883 were crorepatis and 645 had criminal cases against them.
The BJP candidates were found to be with the highest number of criminal cases against them, with 83 (37 per cent) of the 223 in fray having criminal cases against them and 58 others (26 per cent) having serious criminal cases against them including murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping etc.
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Three company directors held in Rs 100-crore investment fraud in Kochi
Kochi (Kerala) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested three directors of a firm accused of cheating hundreds of investors of over Rs 100 crore through a fake investment scheme linked to agricultural tourism here, officials said.
The accused were identified as Muraleedharan, Ashik Murali and Akhil Murali, all natives of Thrissur.
The arrests were made by the Kalamassery police in connection with a fraud involving ATCOS (Agri Tourism Cooperative Society), a firm headquartered at Pathadipalam here.
Police said the company had promised high returns by collecting investments from the public in the agricultural tourism sector, but allegedly cheated hundreds of people and fled with the money.
ATCOS was registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and operated 13 branches across various districts in Kerala, besides a branch in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
When investors failed to receive their promised returns or the invested amount, complaints were filed with the police.
Officials said around 54 cases have been registered against the firm in 32 police stations across the state, including 29 cases at the Kalamassery police station alone.
Following instructions from Kochi City Police Commissioner K S Mahesh Kumar, a special investigation team was formed under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shehensha and Thrikkakara ACP Manoj Kumar.
The team traced the accused to an apartment in Amala Nagar in Thrissur, where they had been hiding after secretly renting the flat, officials said.
The bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and steps have been initiated to trace their assets, officials said.
Police also conducted a raid at the company’s office at Pathadipalam and seized several documents related to the case.
The accused were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalamassery, which remanded them to judicial custody and sent them to Kakkanad jail.
Police said they would seek the custody of the accused for further interrogation as the investigation continues.
