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An investigation against Chilume Group, which was at the centre of the Bengaluru voter data theft case, by the Regional Commissioner, Bengaluru has found that the company and its sister concerns were likely used for tax evasion and money laundering purposes.
Audit of the bank accounts of the companies – Chilume Groups, Chilume Enterprises Pvt Ltd (originally DAP Hombale Pvt Ltd), Digital Sameeksha, Prajna Utility Developments & Management and Kempegowda Groups & Services – “points to another key aspect of the operations of Shri Ravi Kumar (Krishnappa), his associates and directors and the numerous organisations and companies and bank accounts they floated, that the entire operation was to create multiple entities for receipt and transfer of money as well as avoidance of tax and laundering.”
Ravi Kumar, the founder-director of Chilume group, was among the ten arrested by the police after allegations of voter data theft surfaced in September last year. The firm was accused of collecting private data of citizens, including Aadhaar numbers, caste, religion and other details illegally by getting people to pose as booth level officers of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
The State Election Commission had directed Amlan Aditya Biswas, Regional Commissioner of Bengaluru Division, to probe the allegations and submit a report. A police case was also filed.
The probe by the regional commissioner found “clear evidence of deliberate flow of money from account to account (both business and private) with (the) objective of rendering source of income untraceable, avoidance of IT and possibly laundering.”
Possible links to minister
The investigation has also alluded to possible links of the Chilume Group with Hombale Films and Raj Dharma Analytica – two firms linked to Karnataka minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan. Records with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show that Ashwath Narayan was a bank guarantor for loans obtained by the Hombale label of the minister’s cousin Vijay Kiragandur.
The final report submitted by Biswas in February this year noted that the accounts of Digital Sameeksha “also received large sums from one Hombale Films and Raj Dharma Analytica, both of who belong to a large business enterprise, Hombale Group, which however does not otherwise have any link or common Board Member with DAP Hombale / Chilume Enterprises. The Directors of Hombale Films and Raj Dharma Analytica have provided invoices given by Digital Sameeksha for services rendered of Manpower for Film Promotion amounting to Rs 10.5 lakh and Rs 5.9 lakh which adequately explains these entries.”
Another curious factor is that among the first transactions of Digital Sameeksha, registered as a ‘Construction Enterprise’, was to Dr C N Ashwath Narayan Foundation and Malleshwaram Sports Foundation, where Kiragandur is a director. Ravi Kumar sent Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 to the said foundations from Digital Sameeksha’s bank account in July 2016.
In December 2022, the Congress had alleged that the minister was linked to the Chilume group, but Ashwath Narayan denied the same.
The probe also highlighted “numerous dubious receipts”, particularly that of Rs 5 lakh deposited on April 27, 2017 by BJP leader P A Venkataswamy Reddy and Rs 3,00,000 deposited on April 7, 2017 by one Jagadeesh Sadana.
“However, the dubious aspect in both these transfers is that they are both made from the same Reference/Cheque Number, 99826406791, as the payments confirmed by Shri Nandiesh Reddy, as having been made on 25th Jan 2017, from his company Nandi Constructive and on 14th February 2017 by Shri Nandiesh Reddy himself”. Reddy, who contested on a BJP ticket from Krishnarajapuram constituency, had in his election affidavit declared an expenditure of Rs 18 lakh towards the Chilume group to check if there were duplicate entries in the voters’ list for the region.
Three close relatives – Ravi Kumar, his wife Narasimhamurthy Aishwarya and his sister-in-law Byrappa Shruthi are at present listed as directors of Chilume Enterprises Ltd. “Ravi Kumar K seems to have floated these companies to only show his wife, brother, brother’s wife and a friend as directors and to make payments to them to save tax. The audited accounts show an amount of Rs 1,34,46,182 for the year ended 31st March, 2019, as Trade Receivables from the Deputy Commissioner Bengaluru Urban. Trade Receivables are shown Rs 76,53,667 for the year ended 31st March, 2020, from Digital Sameeksha – his own Sole Proprietorship. Thus, possibilities of generating unaccounted income, and money laundering exist,” the report said.
Similarly, for the year that ended on March 31, 2021, trade receivables were shown as Rs 76,53,667 from Digital Sameeksha. “As may be seen from bank statements, the receivables are partly transferred to Digital Sameeksha and then shown as receivable from it. Transactions of Rs 70 lakh are reported between Ravi Kumar and his company as related parties for the year ended 31st March, 2022. In addition, multiple accounts in different banks are opened and large sums of money transferred to them when a payment is received.”
