Lokayukta raids on 7 govt officials nets Rs 9.7 crore

The Lokayukta police on Wednesday raided seven government officials, including four in Bangalore, for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.

 The police seized assets worth Rs 9.7 crore from them. On credible reports, the officials conducted raids at 19 premises in Bangalore, Bidar, Davangere and Gulbarga.  

The officials raided are CEO of Zilla Panchayat in Davangere, A B Hemachandra; Executive Engineer of Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd in Bangalore, M Venugopala; Managing Director of Karnataka Council for Technical Upgradation at Basava Bhavana in Bangalore, V Muniyappa; Registrar of Karnataka State Nursing Council in Bangalore, B N Muninarayanappa; Executive Engineer of Sri Devaraj Urs Truck Terminals Ltd at Shantinagar, Bangalore, H S Prasanna Kumar; Junior Engineer of Panchayat Raj Engineering Sub-Division at Aurad in Bidar, Havagi Rao; FDA at the office of the Regional Commissioner in Gulbarga, Syed Nisar Ahmed Vazir.

Police said that Muninarayanappa, who has been the Registrar of Karnataka State Nursing Council, for the past more than a decade, possessed two houses, one in Banashankari III stage and another in Rajarajeshwarinagar (Rs 52 lakh), an apartment at Puttenahalli in Yelahanka (Rs 1 crore), agricultural land in Devanahalli (Rs 8 lakh), land at Bagalur (Rs 6 lakh) and four sites in various parts of the city (Rs 35 lakh). 

He also owns movable property worth Rs 39 lakh, including two cars, two motorcycles and fixed deposits. Later in the day, the officials found gold weighing 1 kg and cash of Rs 1 lakh in a bank locker. The officer possessed disproportionate assets worth Rs 2.36 crore. Several nursing students and professional nurses waiting for official work to be done at the Gandhinagar office of the Nursing Council poured out complaints against the officials. They alleged that at the State Nursing Council, every activity comes for a price and that there was no regulatory body to check the functioning of the office.  
 The Lokayukta police found immovable properties worth Rs 1.42 crore from Davangere Zilla Panchayat CEO Hemachandra’s house. The officer owns an apartment and a house in Bangalore (Rs 70 lakh), two sites, two residential buildings and three sites (Rs 70 lakh).

The officer also owns movable properties worth Rs 53 lakh, including 708 gm gold and a car (Rs 53 lakh). 

M Venugopala, Executive Engineer of Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd in Bangalore, owns immovable properties worth Rs 72 lakh and movable properties worth Rs 49 lakh.

V Muniyappa, Managing Director of Karnataka Council for Technical Upgradation in Bangalore, owns immovable properties worth Rs 2.16 crore, including six sites in Bangalore (Rs 1.85 crore) and a house in Kalyan Nagar (Rs 20 lakh). He owned movable properties worth Rs 61 lakh.

H S Prasanna Kumar, Executive Engineer of Sri Devaraj Urs Truck Terminals Ltd at Shantinagar, Bangalore, owns immovable properties worth Rs 2.13 crore, including lands at Machohalli (Rs 90 lakh), four sites and an apartment in Mallathahalli (Rs 26 lakh). His movable assets has been estimated at Rs 58 lakh.