FIR against ED officials stayed by HC

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has stayed a First Information Report (FIR) registered against two officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) by the city police recently.

The Bengaluru police had registered an FIR against Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials for allegedly assaulting and threatening YB Ashwatha Narayan, the director of a district-level milk producers' union here.

The accused named in the FIR were ED Deputy Director Manoj Mithal, Assistant Director Ajay Kumar Vaidya, and two other persons at the ED 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 Ashwatha Narayana 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 had searched the premises belonging to KY Nanjegowda, MLA of Malur constituency, on January 8 in connection with an offence related to alleged illegal allotment of government land worth over Rs 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 Nanjegowda, the 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 Rs 80 lakh from five candidates, and he had admitted these aspects.

However, Ashwatha Narayana, in his complaint has alleged that ED officers had coerced him to admit the offence and give false statements against others.