First statewide raids on RTOs a damp squib

The first statewide raids on 55 regional transport and assistant regional transport offices by Lokayukta on Friday, turned out to be a damp squib, as it did not yield anything significant.

Raids were conducted on seven checkposts, including the one at Attibele in Anekal taluk. But once again no major irregularities were detected, forcing Additional General of Police H N Sathyanarayana Rao to comment that the offices probably had prior information of the raids.

Eleven of the RTOs and ARTOs in the City were also raided. Four touts were detained for questioning in Davangere and Mulbagal, after each was found in possession of Rs 6,000.

Cases are expected to be filed against them once their identities are established. 

“At least in some places we should have unearthed major irregularities. But they seemed to be prepared for us,” Rao said.

Raids in the other offices, including Bangalore, have yielded small amounts. At Kolar and Mulbagal checkposts, an excess of Rs 10,000 each was found. 

Shortage in collection

While some places showed some excess in collection, a shortage of Rs 4,000 was found in one of the regional transport offices in Bangalore. Sources in Lokayukta said that shortage of amount was also a cause of concern. 

“This usually means that touts usually pay monthly amounts to the officials and they are not charged for the services rendered on a daily basis,” the official said. 

The raids began in Bangalore at 3 pm and were later conducted in the rest of the State. Around 65 police officers were involved in the operations. 

A police official in the Lokayukta pointed out that the preparedness at these offices could be due to the fact that Lokayukta police in the last month had conducted raids at the offices of sub registrars and State excise officials.