Trisha Ghosh, Pune
A FIR has been filed against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and others from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including the party’s president J.P. Nadda, under orders by a Bengaluru Special Court, after allegations of financial extortion via the electoral bonds scheme that has been cancelled. The petitioner Adarsh Iyer has accused Sitharaman and others of conspiring in a racket under the cover of electoral bonds. Iyer is co-president of the Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Sanghatane (JSS).
The BJP termed the complaint registration as an act that takes away attention from the ongoing Muda scam with Karnataka’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. In turn, Siddaramaiah criticised the BJP and called for Sitharaman’s resignation. He stated that if an “impartial investigation” were to be conducted regarding this issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may also have to resign.
According to the complaint, corporate organisations were compelled to purchase electoral bonds, which were in turn converted into funds amounting to nearly Rs. 8000 crore by BJP politicians for their own benefits and agenda. Sitharaman, Nadda and others have also been accused of abusing authority via orchestrating raids, arrests aimed at corporate organisations and seizures, all of which culminated in these entities being coerced into purchasing electoral bonds. Furthermore, the complaint alleges that companies Sterlite and Vedanta groups were pressured into purchasing bonds worth up to Rs. 230 crore during the period of April 2019 till November 2023. It also states that raids were conducted on Aurobindo Pharma Group, leading to purchases of a sum of Rs. 49.5 crore during the period of July 2022 and November 2023.
Iyer has also accused Sitharaman and the other BJP members of conspiring in the arrest of former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a liquor scam case in Delhi. In addition, the petitioner claimed that data from the State Bank of India (SBI) is evidence of the extortion having taken place. He told News18 that 15-16 complaints have been registered at multiple police stations, but that currently only the one demanding a FIR against Sitharaman is being followed up on.
The Supreme Court had announced electoral bonds as unconstitutional in February this year. The complaint had been first submitted in April in Bengaluru at the 42nd ACMM Court, and accused various significant politicians, apart from Sitharaman.
Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy defended Sitharaman by criticising Siddaramaiah’s call for her to resign. Kumaraswamy claimed that the funds from the electoral bonds were not deposited to her bank account and that a FIR being filed does not equate to her being guilty.