Bengaluru News Highlights: BMTC bus catches fire; Red alert in Dakshina Kannada

A Special Investigation Team on Tuesday questioned former minister B Nagendra in connection with the illegal diversion of money from Karnataka State Valmiki ST Development Corporation, news agency PTI reported.

Nagendra had resigned on June 6 after the corporation's Accounts Superintendent Chandrasekharan P died by suicide on May 26. In the suicide note, he alleged that there was an unauthorised transfer of Rs 187 crore belonging to the state-run Corporation from its bank account.

Further, Rs 88.62 crore was illegally deposited into various accounts of some IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank. While the state government has constituted the SIT to investigate it, the Central Bureau of Investigation is also probing it simultaneously based on a complaint by the Union Bank of India.

Nagendra, who held the scheduled tribes welfare portfolio, was questioned for over five hours.

Meanwhile, two audio clips purportedly of a conversation between two suspended Corporation officials allegedly related to the transaction of money, have gone viral.

Reacting to it, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said he has no information about the audio.

He, however, said the inquiry is underway and there is no interference with it.

“We have given a free hand to the investigation team.” Shivakumar added that already the minister has resigned from his position and the truth will come out soon.

A proposal to rename neighbouring Ramanagara district as ‘Bengaluru South' has once again gained steam, with a Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar-led delegation on Tuesday meeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and submitting a memorandum in this regard, news agency PTI reported.

"There is a feeling among people of Ramanagara, Magadi, Kanakapura, Channapatna and Harohalli taluks that Bengaluru's international reputation, sovereignty and prestige should be available to their taluks too and it also our thinking," Shivakumar and other members of the delegation, who are signatories to the memorandum, said.

"So the current Ramanagara district consisting of these taluks should be renamed, and Ramanagara taluk should be declared its headquarters," they said.

Shivakumar, who hails from the district, had last year too spoken about the plans to rename Ramanagara district as Bengaluru South, with which he hopes for impact of ‘Brand Bengaluru' on smaller nearby towns.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the CM, Shivakumar said the proposal might be placed before the Cabinet to "discuss and decide."

"We are all from Bengaluru district -- Bengaluru city, Doddaballapura, Devanahalli, Hoskote, Ramanagara, Channapatna, Kanakapura, Magadi -- technically and keeping administration in mind, earlier changes and reconstituting were made as Bengaluru Rural district and Bengaluru Urban district, and later a part of it was made Ramanagara district," he said.

Ramanagara district will remain as it is with Ramanagara as headquarters, but the district will be renamed as Bengaluru South, Shivakumar, also state Congress chief, said.

"Whole world is looking at Bengaluru," he said. "We wanted to retain our district's original name, so leaders from the district held discussions and gave a representation to the Chief Minister under my leadership to rename it as Bengaluru South district. It will help Ramanagara, Channapatna, Kanakapura, Magadi in terms of development, industries, property value."