Bengaluru: The Karnataka Police registered an FIR against two Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers involved in investigating the State Tribal Welfare Board case. This action followed a complaint lodged by B. Kallesh, the former Managing Director of the Tribal Welfare Board and current Additional Director in the Social Welfare Department, at the Wilson Garden police station in Bengaluru.


According to the FIR, Kallesh alleges that the ED officers threatened him with arrest and subjected him to mental coercion to force him to confess that former Minister B. Nagendra, senior government officials, and the State Finance Department instructed him to deposit money into the MG Road Bank. The ED officers purportedly offered to assist him if he agreed to their statements.


The Finance Department is overseen by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. In response, Congress MLAs are planning a protest on Tuesday morning in front of the Gandhi statue at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. The protest aims to oppose the ED's alleged harassment of Kallesh and its efforts to implicate Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, and former Minister Nagendra.


The police have filed charges under Sections 3(5), 351(2), and 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The FIR details that Kallesh was summoned by the ED on July 16 and answered 17 questions during his appearance at their Shantinagar office. He indicated that for three of these questions, he needed access to files and assistance from junior officers. His statements were recorded by Assistant ED Director Murali Kannan.


Kallesh was instructed to return to the ED office on July 18 with the necessary files and junior officers. Despite his compliance, the ED demanded further answers and asserted that the money transfer from the state treasury to the MG Road Bank account was illicit. Kallesh maintained that the transfer, conducted on March 25, 2023, followed government orders and that any discrepancies began on March 5, 2023, unrelated to his actions.


Kallesh reported that the ED officials threatened him with a two-year bail denial unless he provided a written statement implicating former Minister Nagendra and the Finance Department in the transfer. Senior ED official Mittal also allegedly threatened Kallesh with arrest and imprisonment unless he complied.


The FIR further claims that ED officers Murali Kannan and Mittal collaborated to intimidate Kallesh into agreeing to their narrative. When Kallesh refused, they discussed his immediate arrest. Consequently, Kallesh sought police intervention against the ED officers for their threats and coercive tactics.


The Congress party has accused the ED of attempting to destabilize the Karnataka government. State Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, alongside other Congress leaders, asserted that the ED is pressuring the accused to implicate Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar in the Tribal Welfare Board case.