Lokayukta raids unearth assets worth crores

The Lokayukta police on Wednesday raided the properties of four officials in the State and unearthed disproportionate assets worth Rs four crore. The raids were conducted in 15 places in Davanagere, Dharwad, Bijapur, Gulbarga and Mysore districts.

The officers are: H Srinivas, junior engineer in Davangere, Shankarappa K Halli, chief labour welfare officer in Hubli, Veerabhadra, assistant executive engineer in Gescom and H D Mohan Kumar, a teacher in Government Primary School in Periyapatna. Cases have been registered against all the four under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Srinivas was appointed in 2000. He had purchased immovable property worth Rs 33 lakh, which includes 7.11 acres in Hiremallanahole village in Jagalur taluk worth Rs 8.75 lakh, and several sites. He owns three vehicles, including a four-wheeler. His total assets are valued at Rs 45.91 lakh, while his income is Rs 17.25 lakh. The percentage of disproportionate assets (DA) is 228.

Shankarappa, an employee with the Transport department, was appointed in 1983 and owns immovable assets worth Rs 1.13 crore, which includes two houses worth over Rs one crore in Gadag district, and 4.34 acres of agricultural land in Shagoti village in the district.

Gold ornaments worth Rs 7.9 lakh have also been seized. Shankarappa’s DA amounts to 101.82 per cent.

Veerabhadra, a Gescom employee, owns six earthmovers valued at Rs 1.3 crore and two SUVs (a Scorpio and Tata Sumo) valued at Rs 18.2 lakh. His movable asset includes a Hitachi hydraulic excavator worth Rs 42 lakh, and a bank balance of Rs 2.85 lakh.

His immovable assets include several sites in Devar Hippargi village in Bijapur district. His DA percentage is 134.5 per cent.

Highest DA

Mohan Kumar, a schoolteacher, owns a two-storey house worth Rs 50 lakh and benami acquisition of 11.3 acres of land at Kalkere village in Periapatna taluk in name of his brother-in-law Manjunatha. Kumar also owns an Innova car worth Rs 12.7 lakh, a Mahindra Jeep worth Rs seven lakh and 465 grams of gold ornaments worth Rs 12.09 lakh. During the raid on his house, Rs 75,730 in cash was also found, the police said.The total movable assets were valued at Rs 41.15 lakh. Kumar’s DA is the highest among the four and stands at 291.42 per cent.