Karnataka | After Valmiki scam, illegal fund transfer scam hits Waqf Board

Close on the heels of the Valmiki Corporation scam where a sum of between Rs 88 crore and Rs 187 crore was misappropriated, the Karnataka State Board of Auqaf has lodged a police complaint against its former chief executive officer Zulfiqarulla for illegally moving over Rs 4 crore of its funds.

Incumbent CEO Meer Ahmed Abbas has accused his predecessor of causing a loss of Rs 8.03 crore in total to the state exchequer.

In a complaint to the High Grounds Police Station, Abbas said that the state government had "encroached" a Waqf property belonging to Gulbarga Dargah and paid Rs 2.29 crore in return. Further, the Waqf Board had received Rs 1.79 crore from the Religious Endowment Department (Muzrai department).

"This way, Rs 4,00,45,465 was deposited in the Indian Bank account at the Benson Town Branch. On November 26, 2016, transferred the amount to the Vijaya Bank account of the CEO, Wakf Board in Chintamani branch (in Chikkaballapura district)," the complainant said.

Abbas stated that Zulfiqarulla did not bring this transfer of money to the notice of the Waqf Board, which caused the board a loss of Rs 8.04 crore. This amount is said to have been arrived at by assuming that compound interest would have accrued on the sum of Rs 4,00,45,465 in the past eight years if it had been invested appropriately.

The complaint states that on March 31, 2022 it was deemed that the reply given by Zulfiqarulla about the alleged misappropriation of funds was unsatisfactory. However, only two years later, on June 12, 2024 did the board decide that a complaint would be filed about the matter, and accordingly a case was registered on July 6, 2024.

The complaint filed in the Waqf board scam comes close on the heels of a similar scam being brought to light recently, wherein funds were misappropriated from the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation.

Police have arrested former minister B Nagendra in the Valmiki Corporation scam, along with 11 other persons.

(With agency inputs)