The High Court of Karnataka has stayed a First Information Report (FIR) registered against two officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) by the Bengaluru city police on a complaint by Y.B. Ashwathnarayana, Director of Kolar-Chickballapur District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd. (KOMUL), who had alleged that he was threatened and assaulted by the ED officers recently during his interrogation in a money laundering case.
Justice K. Natarajan passed the interim order on a petition filed by the ED, and its Deputy Director Manoj Mittal and Assistant Director Ajay Kumar Vaidya, who are working in ED’s Bengaluru zone office.
The ED and its officers have stated in their petition that the complaint with false, baseless, and malicious allegations was lodged against them as an attempt to interfere with and obstruct the ongoing investigation against the complainant and others in two money laundering cases.
It was alleged in the complaint lodged with the Wilson Garden police station by Mr. Ashwathnarayana this January 24 that the ED officer had threatened him and his family members when his house was searched on January 8 and 9, and later he was beaten up by the two officers in the ED’s office in Bengaluru during his interrogation.
The ED searched the premises belonging to K.Y. Nanjegowda, MLA of Malur constituency, on January 8 in connection with an offence related to alleged illegal allotment of government land worth over ₹150 crore to ineligible persons.
During these search operations, the ED has said in its petition, it had unearthed another scam related to recruitment made to 81 posts in KOMUL. The ED has said that it had seized, from the premises of persons connected with the recruitment, including the complainant and Mr. Nanjegowda (who is chairman of KOMUL), the materials indicating that huge sums of money were collected by these politicians from some aspirant candidates to ensure their selection to the posts by manipulating marks obtained by the candidates and forging the signatures of invigilators.
Stating that it had seized certain paper slips, containing names of some selected candidates and certain amounts written against their names on such slips from the complainant’s possession, the ED has said, while alleging that he had collected around ₹80 lakh from five candidates, and he had admitted these aspects.
However, Mr. Ashwathnarayana, in his complaint has alleged that ED officers had coerced him to admit the offence and give false statement against others.
