Lokayukta staff seeks bribe

A staffer in the Lokayukta office here tried to summon an executive engineer demanding a bribe and threatened that the Lokayukta SP will file a case against him if  he does not comply.

The incident would have gone unnoticed had the engineer not approached Lokayukta SP (Bengaluru) Sonia Narang, an IPS officer.

The staffer had told the engineer that his case was already being scrutinised by Narang. The incident took place around 15 days ago when the person, who introduced himself as Lokayukta staff, had called the engineer to the office.  
  
Narang has now submitted a report to the Registrar (Lokayukta) through ADGP (Lokayukta). Narang has stated that some Lokayukta staff have used her name to extort money. Sources said that report has mentioned the name of the engineer who was threatened by the Lokayukta staff.

“The report stated that the person who claimed to be a Lokayukta official had been calling the engineer since some time. When the engineer was convinced that it was not a prank call, he decided to meet him. The person asked the engineer to pay money or threatened that the file will reach the SP, Lokayukta, Bengaluru,” an official said.

The person had reportedly told the engineer that he was making the demand on behalf of Syed Riyaz, public relations officer, Lokayukta.

When contacted, Syed Riyaz said he was not aware of the incident. “Neither me nor my staff are aware of this incident. I have no powers to order enquiry,” he said.
Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao told Deccan Herald, “I am in Mysore and I am not aware of this development.”