Bengaluru: Two men have been arrested for forging the signature of former chief minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah’s signature.

One of the accused is identified as Gurunatha, a stenographer who used to work in the senior Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) leader’s cabinet, and the second is, Siddaruda, President of the Kuruba union in Timmapura village.

Sources from the Police Department say that the accused had submitted a letter with the forged signature of Siddaramaiah to the secretary of the Backward Classes Welfare Department, asking him to release Rs 200 crore to construct a hall for the Kuruba community in Sangolli, Belagavi. However, senior officials became suspicious of the authenticity of the letter and alerted the police. Police officials upon investigation discovered that Siddaruda had initially applied for a Kuruba community hall in 2016, and had regularly been visiting the Vidhana Soudha to get approval for the hall. He later teamed up with Gurunath, and shared his plans of forging Siddaramaiah’s signature.

The police who initially suspected around fifty people to be involved in the case, upon thorough investigation narrowed in on the two accused and arrested them.

The case was first registered with the Vidhana Soudha police station and later transferred to the Cubbon Park police station. Both Siddaruda and Gangadhar have been taken into custody by the police for further investigations.