Case against ex-manager for swindling Rs 24L Valmiki Corp funds

Tumakuru: A case has been registered at the Kyatsandra police station here following allegations that funds to the tune of Rs 24 lakh were allegedly swindled from the Maharshi Valmiki ST Corporation.

Tumakuru district manager of the corporation H C Bhagirathi lodged the complaint against her predecessor C Sridhar, and others, accusing them of misappropriating funds meant for the beneficiaries.

The accused reportedly opened an account at the Kolar branch of the Bank of Maharashtra, into which they funnelled funds swindled from the corporation.

In 2019-20, a sum of Rs 1.25 crore from the corpus of MP’s Local Area Development (LAD) funds was allocated to impart skill training to members of the vulnerable communities in the district. Then Chitradurga MP A Narayanaswamy had recommended residents of Pavagada and Sira taluks in the district as potential beneficiaries of the initiative.

Employees at the corporation reportedly transferred funds meant for the beneficiaries into the fake bank account they had created using forged documents.