Internal vigilance cell mooted for Lokayukta cops

The Lokayukta police is likely to have an internal vigilance wing sho­r­tly, if a proposal made by the top police brass goes through.

The anti corruption police wing in Karnataka has recently been beset with allegations of corruption among its own, denting the credibility of the organisation. A few days ago, a plaint was lodged against a Lokayukta superintendent of police alleging that he demanded a bribe to dilute the case filed against three officials. This is one of the many complaints that have been reaching the Lokayukta in Bangalore.

Lokayukta Additional Director General of Police H N Sathyanarayana Rao who has mooted the proposal before Lokayukta Bhaskar Rao said the unit would be on the lines of what is presently followed in Central Bureau of Investigation. “This will be similar to the Special Unit in CBI. The staff will be minimal and they will be trained in keeping vigilance on our own officers” Rao said.

He also said that officers who will be involved in this unit ­­need to match the yardstick for integrity and the units will be based in Bangalore and in other parts of the State. It is learnt that Lokayukta Bhaskar Rao is likely to give the nod soon.

Many officers in the Lokay­ukta support the move. An officer working in the Bangalore division said that taking bribes from officials so as to not raid them or to file diluted reports against trapped officials was becoming increasingly common.

Incidences of Lokayukta police being complicit in corruption have become common of late. Jagamayya, the Bijapur SP is accused of demanding money to dilute a case against three officials against whom a complaint had been lodged. The matter was referred to the Lokayukta DIG after one of the officials raided recorded the  bribe demand on audio and produced it before the ADGP. 

A few months ago, the Lokayukta cop raided one of their own constables, Chan­na­basavaiah who had also been a gunman to former Lokayukta Santhosh Hegde. In yet another instance, a Lokayukta official in Ramanagara who tried to implicate a police officer in a case by planting evidence was shifted out of the anti-corruption bureau.