DDUTTL scam: D.S. Veeraiah, former BJP MLC, arrested
Former Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) D.S. Veeraiah was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday in connection with an alleged scam in D. Devaraj Urs Truck Terminal Ltd. (DDUTTL), a State government undertaking. Mr. Veeraiah was its chairman when the BJP was in power in the State.
Mr. Veeraiah, 78, had applied for anticipatory bail in the case. However, his plea was rejected by the Special Court of Sessions for Criminal Cases against former and present MPs and MLAs, on Friday morning. Hours later, CID officials arrested Mr. Veeraiah in the city. Mr. Veeraiah was a member of the Legislative Council from 2006 to 2018 and is a member of the BJP.
The scam came to light when the incumbent managing director of the DDUTTL complained to the Wilson Garden police here in September 2023 alleging misappropriation of funds during 2021-2023, when Mr. Veeraiah was the chairman. The case was later handed over to the CID. The complaint alleged that the terminal contracted piece works and made payments without the works being carried out.
Loss of ₹47.1 crore
CID probe showed that the terminal had suffered a loss of ₹47.1 crore owing to this. In October 2021, a meeting was held to discuss the proposed renovation of the terminal and it was decided to give contracts on a piece-work basis.
However, fake documents were created and money sanctioned even when the work was not done. The accused took care to break up the work to not more than ₹5 lakh per contract to circumvent the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 1999. The CID seized 782 files related to illegal work orders during its recent raid on the terminal. The CID arrested the then MD of the terminal S. Shankarappa in May 2024. He allegedly authorised these works and bill payments.
Sources in the CID said they uncovered a money trail to show that the money paid by the terminal for work not carried out, through fake bills, came back to the accused in their bank accounts through a circuitous route.
ED intimated
Following the CID uncovering the money trail, through which the terminal money was laundered and credited into bank accounts linked to the accused, the investigative agency, has written to the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) intimating it of money laundering involved in the case.
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Karnataka