Unceremonious end to Patil's illustrious career

At around 5.20 pm on Monday, Justice Patil visited Governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj and submitted his resignation. Soon after, he left the Raj Bhavan from the back gate, avoiding the media, but later convened a press conference and announced his decision to quit as Lokayukta. Sources in the Raj Bhavan said the governor was yet to take a call on the issue.

Justice Patil has the reputation of probing the 2G spectrum scam, one of India’s largest. However, the controversy surrounding the acquisition of assets in his and his wife’s name marred an otherwise illustrious career of a judge who took over as Karnataka’s anti-corruption ombudsman on August 3.

Despite hectic efforts to try and meet him for confirming his possible resignation — there were rumours afloat since Sunday that Patil might quit as Lokayukta — it was only towards late Monday evening that he declared he was stepping down from the post.

While his emotions did not betray him, the normally soft-spoken former Supreme Court judge was curt in his address and critical of the media.

‘Malicious’ campaign
Patil’s resignation statement, which ran into four pages, tried to justify the circumstances under which he bought the controversial sites and was devoid of any compelling reasons, except the ‘malicious’ campaign run by a section of the media against him.

This was further reiterated by his family members who said: “There were no political compulsions for him. The decision was taken by him late on Sunday night. He was hurt by the malicious campaign against him.”

Following his terse statement, without entertaining any queries from mediapersons, Patil left in his official vehicle.