The Cubbon Park Police in Bengaluru have arrested two men for submitting documents with the forged signature of former Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah. The accused have been identified as Gurunath, a stenographer who used to work in the senior Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) leader’s cabinet, and Siddaruda, president of the Kuruba union in Timmapura village.
According to the police, the two men had written and submitted a letter to the secretary of the Backward Classes Welfare Department, asking him to release Rs 200 crore to construct a hall for the Kuruba community in Sangolli, Belagavi. However, senior officials at the office became suspicious of the authenticity of the letter and raised the alarm.
Upon further investigations, the police officials discovered that Siddaruda had initially applied for a Kuruba community hall in 2016. He had regularly been visiting the Vidhana Soudha to get approval for the hall. After he was acquainted with Gurunath, he shared his plans with him.
The two then later teamed up to write the letter and forge the senior Congress leader’s signature on the document. The secretary suspected the signature was forged and upon further scrutiny confirmed the same.
The police officials were alerted, who then nabbed the duo after investigating the case thoroughly. They initially had suspected around 50 people, from whom they later narrowed in on the two accused.
The case was first registered with the Vidhana Soudha police station and later transferred to the Cubbon Park police officials, who then took up the case. Both Siddaruda and Gangadhar have been reprimanded and taken into custody by the police.
In December 2018, SJ Mohan Kumar, the stenographer of Backward Classes Welfare Minister C Puttaranga Shetty, was caught in possession of Rs 25 lakh at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. He later alleged that the cash was given to him by a few contractors, who were giving the same as a bribe to the minister. He told the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials that he was on the way to meet the minister when he was apprehended with the cash.