State ACB now goes after five officials

The Anti-Corruption Bureau on Friday conducted simultaneous raids on the houses and offices of five officials in Bengaluru, Kalaburagi and Tumakuru.

They were booked for possessing wealth beyond their known sources of income. The ACB is a watchdog the state government set up in March.

L Bheema Nayak, Special Land Acquisition Officer, Karnataka Housing Board, arrested recently in connection with the suicide of his former driver Ramesh, was among the officials raided.

The others are: T R Shivaramu, executive engineer, Public Works Department, National Highway Authority, Bengaluru; Shivalingappa, assistant engineer, Panchayat Raj Engineering Division, Kalaburagi; D Narasimhamurthy, range forest officer, Koratagere, Tumakuru District; and H  M Shivaprasad, veterinary medical officer, Nelamangala, Bengaluru Rural district.

On December 11, police had arrested Bheema Nayak following Ramesh Gowda’s suicide. In his death note, the driver had alleged Nayak helped mining baron Janardhana Reddy launder Rs 100 crore.

The sleuths recovered documents relating to residential sites, buildings, agricultural lands, vehicles, ornaments and bank accounts.

Narasimhamurthy’s properties have been estimated to be around Rs 1.95 crore, while Shivaprasad’s around Rs 1.81 crore. Documents were recovered from Nayak’s houses at Yelahanka New Town and Belagavi, and the houses of his brothers at Marenahalli in Ballari, and his office at Visvesvaraya Towers, Bengaluru.

The sleuths seized documents from Shivaramu’s house at HSR Layout, Bengaluru, and his office at KR Circle, as also from a relative’s house in Mysuru. Similarly, they said they had found incriminating documents from Shivalingappa’s house and office in Kalaburagi.