BMTC bus.
Credit: DH Photo
Police have arrested a former chief traffic manager for causing a loss of Rs 17.64 crore to the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) by forging the signatures of top officials.
The main suspect, Sriram Mulkavan, served as secretary of the Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC) when the fraud came to light. The KKRTC suspended him following his arrest on Tuesday. Six other officials have also been named in the FIR.
While a local court remanded Mulkavan to judicial custody, police have summoned other officials for questioning, a senior officer said.
The other officials are Shamala S Maddodi, the then divisional traffic officer; Mamatha BK, the then assistant traffic manager; Anitha T, the then assistant traffic superintendent; Prakash Koppal, the then junior assistant; Gunasheela, the then assistant traffic inspector; and Venkatesh R, the then junior assistant.
The police action is based on a complaint filed by the BMTC’s Assistant Security and Vigilance Officer, CK Ramya. The fraud took place when Mulkavan was the chief traffic manager (commercial) at the BMTC.
According to FIR, the officials forged the signatures of the BMTC’s then managing director C Shikha and then director (security and vigilance) Arun K between September 2020 and October 2023.
Sriram was arrested because he oversaw the files and was “primarily responsible” for causing the financial loss to the BMTC, the officer added.
As per the FIR, Shikha and Arun’s signatures were forged on BMTC file numbers 1272 and 1A, causing a loss of Rs 10.5 crore and Rs 6.972 crore, respectively.
In file number 120, volume number 3, pages containing details of giving financial exemption to licence holders were added, with the remark that the licence tax can be completely waived. This caused the BMTC a loss of Rs 21.6 lakh.
The BMTC file number 890 extended the cleaning contract of the Yeshwantpur TTMC to Sri Lakshmi Enterprises without seeking permission from the senior authorities.
They also flouted the agreement of minimum labour-based work and made it area-based cleaning management, causing a loss of 1.05 lakh.
Well-placed sources said that since approvals had to be given by the competent authority (BMTC MD), Mulkavan and other suspects forged their signatures to “falsely show” that the approvals had been given.
The files pertained to commercial matters, including extending commercial space licence and duration and providing additional space. In some cases, contracts were given to underserving candidates while financial exemptions were also given, the source said.