Acting on a tip-off, a team of Lokayukta officers raided the official vehicle - car bearing registration number KA-01/GA-567 - Somashekharappa, a deputy commissioner in the Excise department. They found the cash in a plastic bag kept in the boot of the vehicle. The investigators also raided a room in Eeffa Hotel where Somashekharappa has been reportedly staying and seized some documents.
According to sources, Somashekharappa had been transferred to Belgaum recently and was staying in the hotel for the past one-and-half months. He had booked another room on Saturday to facilitate transporting the money with the help of his driver, Rayappa Basappa Madali. Lokayukta officials were interrogating Somashekarappa and his driver in the hotel room till late evening on Saturday.
“That’s not my money. I do not know who has kept it. It might be a conspiracy against me,” Somashekharappa was heard telling the Lokayukta officials.
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