Bengaluru Court Orders FIR Against Nirmala Sitharaman for Alleged Extortion via Electoral Bonds
A special court in Bengaluru directed the police to file an FIR against India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and others based on allegations of extortion related to electoral bonds. This directive came following a complaint filed by Adarsh Iyer co-chair of the People's Rights Struggle Council (JSP). The complaint alleged that funds were forcibly extracted using electoral bonds intimidating those involved.
The court's order has now been forwarded to the Tilak Nagar Police Station which has been instructed to investigate the extortion claims. This legal development follows a petition filed in April 2024 naming several high-profile individuals including senior BJP leaders like JP Nadda and Nalin Kumar Kateel as well as Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials.
Order to investigate extortion through electoral bonds
Hearing the case the court has adjourned the hearing till October 10 2024. During this time the court has directed to register an FIR for investigation and submit a detailed report. Senior advocate Balan presented his arguments in the court on behalf of the petitioner.
The Janadhikar Sangharsh Parishad had filed a petition in the 42nd ACMM Court of Bengaluru in April 2024 in this matter in which a complaint was lodged against Nirmala Sitharaman BJP National President JP Nadda then BJP President of Karnataka Nalin Kumar Kateel and other BJP leaders.
There has been controversy over electoral bonds earlier too
The BJP has been embroiled in controversies earlier also regarding the electoral bond scheme. The scheme was launched by the Narendra Modi government in 2018 with the aim of making the process of donating to political parties transparent. Under this people could fund political parties by buying electoral bonds but it was not clear who donated how much.
Opposition parties protested against this scheme and approached the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court canceled the electoral bonds before the Lok Sabha elections this year raising questions on the government's scheme.
Questions raised on BJP over electoral bonds
The opposition has accused the BJP of using electoral bonds to secretly receive funding from big corporates and rich individuals leading to corruption. The scheme gave a way to hide the sources of political funding leading to allegations of corruption and extortion.
Court's direction and further process
The special court in Bengaluru has now directed the police to investigate the case of extortion through electoral bonds. The court has ordered to submit a detailed report of the investigation in the next hearing by October 10 2024. Now it remains to be seen what facts come out in the investigation and what action is taken in this matter.
