JOIN USAshwin pressured me to favour some builders, says BDA chief
Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) T Sham Bhat and Principal Secretary B Basavaraju have stated that Yerabati Ashwin, son of Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao, and his gang had pressured them to pass orders in favour of many individuals, including some builders.
The third chargesheet pertaining to the complaint by former Bengaluru Zilla Panchayat member P N Krishnamurthy, filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) contains the statements by both these senior IAS officers about the pressure exerted by Ashwin, suspended Joint Commissioner (PRO) Syed Riyaz and V Bhaskar alias ‘420 Bhaskar’.
Krishnamurthy's complaint was that Ashwin had demanded a bribe of Rs 40 lakh to get the khata done for his property in Koramangala. Sham Bhat has stated that he knew Riyaz since 1995-96 when he was working as Joint Commissioner (Transport) in MS Building. He further stated that he knew another extortionist, Krishna alias ‘Hotte’Krishna, who was also arrested by the SIT, between 2008 and 2011. Sham Bhat was Chief Executive Officer at KIADB then.
Bhat has stated that Ashwin, Riyaz and Bhaskar had contacted him in connection with the conversion of land belonging to complainant P N Krishnamurthy.
‘Issued NoC’
He stated that when he went to Lokayukta's official residence on Crescent Road, Revenue Minister's personal secretary Nagaraj was also there. “They said Urban DC wanted a no objection from BDA for conversion of the property. I issued a NoC to DC for conversion of land on October 23, 2014 as per the legal opinion given by experts,'' stated Sham Bhat.
He has stated that in November 2014, Ashwin had called him repeatedly to allot a land. He said ‘Hotte’ Krishna had visited his office on behalf of Ashwin and put pressure on him.
Sham Bhat has stated that Ashwin had also called him to allot an alternative land in favour of one Shivarama Sharma since the latter's land was acquired for Arkavathy layout.
“Ashwin had asked me to take an Assistant Executive Engineer by name Mohammed Fazalulla Shariff to BDA. The officer was transferred from BBMP to BDA in December 2014. I approved the file since he was already transferred to BDA by then.
Similarly, Principal Secretary Basavaraju stated that Ashwin had summoned him to the official residence of Lokayukta in October 2014. “Ashwin asked me to clear a file pertaining to Prestige Group, pending in my office. I told him that some files are pending but I don't remember the Prestige file he was referring to.
Then, Ashwin said, please do the needful and walked into another room. Later, Bhaskar kept calling me pertaining to this and the B-kharab land of 5.01 acres located in Devanahalli taluk was being developed by Prestige. The file is still pending,'' he stated.