FIR Registered in Bangaluru Against Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP & Enforcement Directorate Following Court Directive

An FIR has been registered on Saturday against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on charges of ‘extortion’ and criminal conspiracy at a police station in Bengaluru, following the Special Court’s order. Bengaluru Special Court on Friday had directed Thilaknagar Police station to register the FIR based on a petition filed by Adarsh Iyer of the Janaadhikara Sangharsha Sanghatane (JSP), accusing Sitharaman and others of extortion of businessmen through then now-scrapped electoral bonds.

The FIR, apart from Sitharaman, also names former BJP Karnataka president Nalin Kumar Kateel and the party's current state chief BY Vijayendra. The FIR, in the section of the accused, has also named “office bearers and others, National level” of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). The complaint filed by Iyer had alleged that raids conducted by Central Agency Enforcement Directorate were used as a weapon to coerce businessmen to buy electoral bonds for BJP. The FIR has also booked Enforcement Directorate, without naming any particular officer from the agency.

In February 2024, ahead of Lok Sabha elections, the Supreme Court scrapped the electoral bonds calling them “unconstitutional”. But BJP while didn’t contest the order, had termed the bonds transparent donations. In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the State Bank of India (SBI) stated that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased by donors between April 1, 2019, and February 15, 2024, out of which 22,030 bonds worth Rs.12,769.40 crore were redeemed by political parties. In further declaration by the bank, it was disclosed that BJP as the single largest beneficiary, was far ahead of all other political parties, with close to 48 percent of overall bonds, worth more than Rs. 6000 crore.​