Lokayukta seize gold articles from corporator

The Lokayukta police on Friday seized gold and silver articles belonging to Azad Nagar Corporator Gowramma from her residence.

They had raided the house of Gowramma on November 9 and found assets worth about Rs 16 crore. The police had also found gold weighing 3.5 kg and 21 kg of silver.

After the raid, Gowramma had deposited one kg of gold with a co-operative bank and the police have recovered the receipt. They have also seized 10 kg of silver.

Sources in the Lokayukta police said the gold and silver items were seized to prevent their misuse and sale.

Gowramma’s husband Govindraju was arrested on November 22, after he was found to have paid Rs 15 lakh to seven contract killers to eliminate Lingaraju, his former friend and RTI activist.

Lingaraju had written to the Upalokayukta against the illegal assets of Govindraju and provided documents obtained through RTI.

The documents were later used by the Lokayukta to prepare a report on the Govindaraju couple, which subsequently led to the raid.