Lokayukta raids 6 officers in Bangalore

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore, November 17: The Lokayukta investigators on Tuesday conducted simultaneous raids on the residences of six government officers and unearthed property worth Rs 7.78 crore disproportionate to their known source of income.

 

Officers whose houses were raided are S Thimmaraju (food inspector, Hoskote), K T Mada Shetty (junior engineer, KRIDL, Bidar), Noor Ahmed Khan (Assistant director, KRIDL, Kittur), Siddarama Ningappa Koganura (AEE, Panchayat Raj Engineering Division, Indi), C K Prasad (Sub Divisional Assistant, Panchayat Raj Engineering Division, Chikmagalur) and Shankara Gowda Anandrayagowda Patil (Assistant Executive Engineer, PMGSY Bijapur).

The raids began early in the morning around 6.30 am and went on till evening at Hoskote, Mysore, Bidar, Gulbarga, Indi, Bijapur, Belgaum and Chikmagalur.

The sleuths also raided residences of the relatives of accused government officers in different parts of the state.

Rs 30 lakh in cash

The Lokayukta sleuths were taken aback when they seized Rs 30 lakh cash from the house of the Nataraj, the father-in-law of Mada Shetty in Mysore, who sells pooja items at a temple in Gangotri Layout. They recovered gold ornaments weighing 1.184 kg worth Rs 19.46 lakh and silver ornaments weighing 5.5 kg worth Rs 1.32 lakh from Shetty’s house.

“We were shocked to see currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations along with the gold and silver ornaments in an almirah in Nataraj’s house. Even with a currency counting machine, it took us hours to count the money,” Lokayukta officials said.

“During my three years in tenure, this is the first time, I am seeing this much of cash being recovered from one officer,” said ADGP RP Dutta.

Thimmaraju own two houses, one a two-storey and the other a four-storey one, costing more than Rs one crore, as also a site at Tavarekere.

Siddarama Ningappa Koganura owns 35.27 acres land, a house, a multi-storeyed building and a site. He has Rs 16 lakh in fixed deposit in a bank and has 12 bank accounts.

Noor Ahmed Khan has 32.01 acre agriculture land at Santhebennur in Davangere district besides a big two-storeyed building in Dharwad and a house at Santhebennur. He allegedly runs a petrol bunk in his wife’s name.

Shankar Anand Gowda Patil has 16.21 land in Bijpur.  He owns a house, a commercial complex and sites and a flat in Bangalore. He hold 10 accounts in different banks.

C K Prasad joined as a daily wage labour at Panchayat Raj Department in Chikmagalur in 1985 and was regularised in 2007. Long stay at one place helped him carry out corrupt practicses.

He has 10.25 acres of land at Bindiga village in Chikmagalur, four sites in Chikmagalur, a commercial complex and a building under construction.

The sleuths unearthed revolvers at residences of Shankar Patil and Prasad. There was a bullet at Prasad’s revolver. Including Tuesday’s raid, the anti-corruption unit has raided the houses of 37 corrupt bureaucrats this year.