More than two years after Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials trapped BBMP corporator G Krishnamurthy while accepting a bribe, the agency has recently received prosecution sanction order against the elected representative. With the order, Krishnamurthy will become the first BBMP corporator to be charge-sheeted by the agency.
The Congress corporator from Rajajinagar was arrested along with assistant engineer Krishna in March 2017 after a contractor had approached the ACB. The agency had filed an FIR against Krishnamurthy, Krishna and assistant executive engineer Arunkumar under Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act.
When contacted, M Chandra Sekhar, Inspector General of Police, ACB, confirmed that the agency had received permission to prosecute the corporator. According to sources, permission was also granted to prosecute Krishna, while permission for Arunkumar, who had retired from services shortly after the case, was still awaited.
The Urban Development Department had issued the prosecution sanction against Krishnamurthy.
Case history
Krishnamurthy and Krishna were allegedly caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 15 lakh, based on a complaint by Dhananjay Naidu, a contractor. After having won the tender to renovate the RTO office in Rajajinagar, bill payment of Rs 2.74 crore was kept pending for more than a year.
When he approached the three accused, they had demanded a bribe of Rs 38.5 lakh to release the bill amount which was reduced to Rs 15 lakh, according to the complaint. Of the said amount, Rs 10 lakh was allegedly meant for the corporator while the remaining cash was to be shared between the two.
He lodged a complaint with the ACB soon after, who laid a trap to nab the accused.
