Lokayukta police raid PWD officials

The Lokayukta police on Monday conducted simultaneous raids at the residences of eight officials of the Public Works Department (PWD), including a secretary and contractors attached to the Magadi sub-division and Ramanagara division, and seized several incriminating documents.

The raided officials have been identified as: Govindaraju (former internal advisor), Sadashivareddy B Patil (secretary), Udayshankar (superintendent engineer), Gangadharaiah (executive engineer), Nataraju (assistant executive engineer), and contractors Nanjaiah, Kemaparaju and Shankar.

Following newspaper reports about the involvement of PWD officials in a Rs 600-crore scam related to public works in 2011, the Lokayukta police registered a suo motu case at Ramanagara under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act.

The Lokayukta investigation revealed that the PWD officials had favoured a few contractors to procure e-tenders on road work and bridge work in the Magadi sub-division and Ramanagara division.

Eight teams

The raiding team, led by Lokayukta Superintendent of Police Shivashankar, was divided into eight groups.

Each group was headed by a deputy superintendent of police, and included two inspectors and officers of other ranks. The teams conducted simultaneous raids at Koramangala, Magadi and Tumkur.

A Lokayukta official revealed that the documents obtained during the raid indicated that the scam was widespread.

“There is evidence that proved that the scam was not limited just to the department but also has spread to the higher level,” he said.