Electoral bond allegations: Complainant claims large-scale extortion done by union FM Nirmala Sitharaman, others

After a Bengaluru court ordered the filing of a case against Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and others for their alleged role in extortion through the now-scrapped electoral bonds scheme, complainant Adarsh Iyer of Janadhikar Sangharsh Parishad (JSP) on Sep 28 alleged that the government ‘misused ’ its power to extort large sums of money from companies.

The other accused in the case include Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders — Nalin Kumar Kateel and Karnataka BJP chief BY Vijayendra — besides some unnamed BJP office bearers.

“The Supreme Court asked the SBI to reveal entire data on electoral bonds. Following that, many media reports suggested that there was a clear-cut case of extortion, and we went ahead and found out that it was a corruption case,” Iyer was quoted as saying.

The complaint alleges that corporate entities were coerced into purchasing electoral bonds to the tune of thousands of crores, citing raids conducted by the ED as a pressure tactic. These electoral bonds were purportedly cashed by BJP leaders at both national and state levels.

It claims that the electoral bonds scheme facilitated the accumulation of illicit funds for political purposes with Sitharaman and other senior BJP leaders involved in the process.

Iyer expressed satisfaction over the court order which came after five months. He said that a special court has ordered an investigation under CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) section 153.

“The court has ordered an investigation under CrPC Section 153. Nirmala Sitharaman is accused number 1, ED officials of Delhi are the second, office bearers of the BJP at the national level are third, and the fourth one is the state BJP ex-president. The fifth one is current BJP state chief BY Vijayendra,” he added.

Meanwhile, BJP defended Nirmala Sitharaman, while distancing itself from the allegations. It argued that the charges are politically motivated and that the electoral bonds issue is a policy matter and not a criminal one.

The BJP also slammed Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the ongoing Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case.

"Siddaramaiah is a habitual offender when it comes to cooperating with the investigation agencies. There were 106 cases against Congress leaders, and among those, 64 were absolutely on Siddaramaiah when he was the Chief Minister of Karnataka the last time," said Dr Sudha Halkai, BJP spokesperson in a statement on Sep 28.

Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh on Sep 28 described the court's order as a serious development, saying that both the Union finance minister and the Prime Minister must take responsibility.

"This is a very serious development because the Court has ordered an FIR against Nirmala Sitharaman over the poll bond extortion allegation,” said Ghosh in a statement.

“We have been saying from day one that the central government is misusing the central agencies... The responsibility must be taken by the union finance minister and also the PM," he added.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sep 28 demanded the resignation of Nirmala Sitharaman after a court ordered the filing of an FIR against the Union minister and other leaders.

Addressing a press conference, Siddaramaiah criticized the Karnataka BJP for their silence over the involvement of the union finance minister in the alleged scam and said that the state BJP will protest to demand Sitharaman’s resignation.

Siddaramaiah also called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation, and also Union Minister, and BJP leader HD Kumaraswamy after an impartial investigation into the alleged scam.

Pertinently, police have lodged a First Information Report (FIR) at Tilak Nagar police station in Bengaluru under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 384 (extortion), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 34 (acts by multiple individuals with a shared intent).