(MENAFN- IANS) Bengaluru, Sep 8 (IANS) The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has attached properties worth Rs 85 lakh in connection with the medical college stipend scam reported from Kalaburagi city in Karnataka on Monday, an official statement said.

"Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Mangalore Sub Zonal Office, has provisionally attached four immovable properties of Mallanna S Maddarki to the tune of about Rs 85 Lakh on Sept 4, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College Stipend scam," the statement said.

ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIR registered by Kalaburagi City Cybercrime, Economic Offences, Narcotics (CEN) Crime Police Station, Karnataka, under various sections of IPC 1860, against Bheemashankar Bilgundi, Dr. S M Patil, Subash, Canara Bank Manager and others.

The investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in the form of Search operations conducted under section 17 during the month of April and May 2025 and subsequent enquiries, has revealed that the main accused the Bhimashankar Bilgundi, then President of Hyderabad Education Society which manages MRMC, with the assistance of Accountant of MRMC, Subashchandra Jagannath, and Office Superintendent of HKE Society Mallanna S Maddarki, during the period between 2018 and 2024, had siphoned off stipend funds credited to the bank accounts of PG medical students, the ED stated.

The stipend of MRMC students to the tune of Rs 33.34 crore was siphoned off by collecting blank signed cheques from them at the time of their admission and encashing the same by filling the details in blank cheques, thereby depriving students of their entitled stipend, the ED said.

In the instant case, the Proceeds of Crime (POC) to the tune of Rs. 5.87 Crore, in the form of immovable properties purchased by the main accused Bhimashankar Bilgundi in the names of his sons and several bank accounts of Bhimashankar Bilgundi, have already been attached by ED in the month of July 2025.

In continuance of the same, the properties of Mallanna S Maddarki, who had handled the POC on behalf of the main accused Bhimashankar Bilgundi, have been subjected to attachment, the statement said.

Further investigation is under progress.

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