'Was pressured to frame CM in Valmiki scam'

BENGALURU: Karnataka Congress MLA B Nagendra , who quit as minister for his alleged role in the Valmiki scam , on W ed nesday claimed that ED sleuths pressured him to implicate CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar in the scam.

"I rejected it saying that when I have no role in it (the scam), where is the scope for their (CM and deputy CM) role," said Nagendra, who was arrested by ED in July under PMLA and was granted bail on Tuesday.

"There is no connection between govt and the scam, which had taken place in the bank," he said, insisting it was a bank scam, not related to govt. "Money was transferred without written orders and bank officials did this without checking KYC at a time when there was a code of conduct (during Lok Sabha polls) in place," he said.