JOIN USThe City wing of the Lokayukta police swooped down on the residence and offices of Congress MLA M Krishnappa here on Thursday.
The raids, which went on till evening, are expected to continue on Friday. However, the find was not too substantial as the residence seemed to have been cleared and the offices were practically vacant.
The police are investigating allegations of disproportionate assets owned by Krishnappa and his son, MLA Priya Krishna, as stated in a private complaint filed in the Special Lokayukta Court by an advocate Prakasha H C. The court had handed over the probe to the Lokayukta police on January 16.
Four teams led by Deputy Superintendants of Police H S Manjunath, Abdul Ahad, Girish S and Prasanna V Raju raided five places, comprising three residences and two offices. The raid on the house in Vijayanagar belonging to Krishnappa and his family yielded Rs 7.11 lakh in cash and gold weighing one kg and silver weighing eight kgs.
Plans and blueprints of about 20 layouts, documents pertaining to sites, cars and electronic items were also seized from the place. Both Krishnappa and his son Priya Krishna were present in the house when the raid took place.
The police also raided the house of Ashok Gowda, a relative and business associate of the Krishnappas in Vijayanagar, and of Shashikanth, another business associate whose house is located in Attiguppe.
Two of Krishnappa’s offices in High Point 4 at Chalukya Circle, named Lakshmi Narasimha Enterprises, were also raided and the police seized documents related to bank accounts, windmills, cars and maps of layouts. Documents pertaining to a group of companies under the name SLN Mines were seized.
City Lokayukta Superintendent of Police Shivashankar P K said the raids are likely to continue on Friday as more information was pouring in about new places that are to be searched. “We are still verifying the seized documents. We will continue with more raids if we get information,” he said.
Compared to the assets listed by Krishnappa, who was called a “parallel BDA” by a Lokayukta official, the find at these places has been minuscule. Sources in the Lokayukta agreed that ample time had been given to Krishnappa to move any information or assets that could jeopardise his position as the complaint had taken considerable time to reach the police. Though the investigation was referred to the Lokayukta police on January 16, the case file was received by the police and an FIR was filed only on January 30.