Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 28: A police complaint has been registered against the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the union health minister JP Nadda, who is also the BJP national president, and others for alleged misuse of the now-scrapped electoral bond scheme to coerce the corporate sector to contribute to the BJP funds.
Based on a private complaint filed by Adarsh R Iyer, co-president of Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Parishath (JSP), the FIR was filed at the Tilak Nagar police station in Bengaluru on Saturday on the orders of a Bengaluru Special Court charging the accused under sections 384 (punishment for extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with 34 (acts done with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. The development came after the special court directed local police to file an FIR against Sitharaman, who is a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka.
The complaint names not only Nirmala Sitharaman but also BJP President JP Nadda, former BJP Karnataka president Nalin Kumar Kateel and the party’s current state chief BY Vijayendra. The FIR, however, mentions only Ms Sitharaman, unnamed Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, “office bearers and others, national level” of the BJP, Mr Kateel and Mr Vijayendra, and unnamed state office bearers of the BJP. The sections mentioned in the FIR pertain to extortion and criminal conspiracy.
According to the complaint, Ms Sitharaman and ED officials committed extortion under the pretext of electoral bonds and benefitted to the tune of over ₹8,000 crore. Mr Iyer in his complaint alleged that the “extortion” was committed in connivance with Nadda, Kateel, Vijayendra and other office bearers of the party at the state and national level. He also claimed that Ms Sitharaman used the ED to “conduct raids, seizures and arrests of various corporates, their CEOs, MDs and on top executive of the companies to compel them to pay.”
Fearing the raids, many corporates were forced to buy electoral bonds worth several crores, which were encashed by Nadda, Kateel, Vijayendra and others, he alleged. “The entire extortion racket under the garb of electoral bonds have been orchestrated hand in glove with officials of BJP at various levels,” Mr Iyer alleged.
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. The complaint claims that the electoral bonds scheme facilitated the accumulation of illicit funds for political purposes, with Ms Sitharaman and other senior BJP leaders involved in the process.
The complainant had initially approached the jurisdictional Tilak Nagar police station with a complaint on March 30this year, and then approached DCP Bengaluru South East in April 2024. Since there was no action, he moved the court and filed a private complaint seeking necessary directions from Special Court exclusively to deal with criminal cases related to elected MPs/MLAs in the State of Karnataka.
The BJP has defended Nirmala Sitharaman, distancing itself from the allegations. The party argued that the charges are politically motivated and that the electoral bonds issue is a policy matter, not a criminal one. The BJP also attacked Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the ongoing Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case.
“Mr 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 Mr Siddaramaiah when he was the Chief Minister of Karnataka the last time,” said Dr Sudha Halkai, BJP spokesperson.
Mr Siddaramaiah, under pressure due to an FIR filed against him in the ongoing MUDA land allotment case, questioned why senior leaders like Ms Sitharaman and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, also facing a corruption probe, are not being asked to resign. He said if he was expected to step down, the same standards should apply to Ms Sitharaman and other BJP leaders facing FIRs. The Lokayukta police have registered an FIR against Mr Siddaramaiah, his wife, and other family members over the alleged illegal allotment of MUDA sites.
Explaining his move, Mr Iyer said, “Our allegation is that Nirmala Sitharaman is misusing her position as finance minister to benefit her party, which is ruling at the Centre. That is where extortion comes into the picture.” He described the electoral bond scheme as a scam that the entire nation was exposed to, emphasising that their complaints and evidence demonstrate a clear-cut case of extortion and corruption by the union minister and her BJP colleagues in Karnataka as well.
Iyer further claimed that data uploaded by the State Bank of India (SBI) clearly shows how the extortion took place. “We have filed 15 to 16 complaints at various police stations, but right now we are following up on only one—the one where the court has directed that an FIR be filed at Tilak Nagar Police Station against Nirmala Sitharaman,” Mr Iyer said.
The Supreme Court had declared electoral bonds unconstitutional in February 2024. The scheme allegedly enabled political parties to receive large sums of money without disclosing the identity of donors, raising concerns about corporate influence in politics.
Defending his colleague Sitharaman, union minister HD Kumaraswamy Mr Siddaramaiah’s demand that she should resign. “Why should she resign if the electoral bond funds didn’t go into her personal account? They’ve asked for an FIR to be filed, but that doesn’t mean she is guilty,” Kumaraswamy said.