Corruption charge against minister Chaluvarayaswamy: CM Siddaramaiah orders CID probe over ‘fake’ letters

Agriculture Minister Chaluvarayaswamy had termed the letters received by Raj Bhavan as ‘fake.’

Amid corruption allegations against Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has ordered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe into the incident. Based on a letter purportedly written by seven Assistant Directors of Mandya Agriculture Department claiming that the minister through Joint Director has demanded Rs 6-8 lakh for posting the Governor’s office had written to the Chief Secretary to take appropriate action.

CM Siddaramaiah on Tuesday held a meeting with Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara and decided to hand over the probe to CID.

Based on a purported letter written to the Governor, Raj Bhavan officials had forwarded the letter to Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma for appropriate action.

In the letter, the alleged officials said that they are under pressure to pay money and had asked the Governor to intervene or else threatened to die by suicide.

On August 7, the Joint Director of the Mandya Agricultural Department wrote to the Superintendent of Police and demanded a thorough probe claiming that none of the Assistant Directors have written to the Governor and instead their signatures were forged.

Minister Chaluvarayaswamy had claimed that prima facie, the letters were ‘fake.’ He also stated that attempts were being made to malign him by his opponents.

Former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy accused Chaluvarayaswamy of ‘hate politics’ and blamed him for the transfer of a driver-cum-conductor named Jagadeesh who attempted suicide by drinking poison.