Karnataka HC lifts travel restriction on Nagendra but restrains travel abroad sans prior nod

On Thursday, the High Court of Karnataka lifted the travel restriction for Minister for Planning and Statistics B. Nagendra within the country, but maintained a restriction on his travel abroad without obtaining prior permission from the trial court. Justice M. Nagaprasanna issued the order while revising the conditions set by the trial court in 2024 when granting him bail in a money laundering case filed by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in connection with the alleged misappropriation of over ₹89 crore from the State-run Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Ltd. The fraud allegedly occurred when Nagendra was the Minister for Scheduled Tribes Welfare, Youth Empowerment and Sports in 2024, and he was initially arrested by the ED as an accused, despite not being named in the chargesheet filed by the State police.

He resigned from the State Cabinet under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in June 2024, following the allegations, and was subsequently arrested by the ED. A four-time MLA from Ballari Assembly constituency, Nagendra joined the Cabinet led by Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar in June of the current year. Upon assuming his role, he filed a petition to relax the bail conditions, citing the challenges he would face in obtaining permission from the trial court for every trip outside the State needed to perform his ministerial duties.