Upalokayukta orders probe into report on bribe demand

Upalokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi on Tuesday ordered further investigation into the report by SP of Lokayukta (City) Sonia Narang on the demand for Rs one crore bribe inside the Lokayukta office. The Upalokayukta has directed Narang to hold a free and fair investigation and submit a report by July 6. 

Janadhikara Sangharsh Parishath (JSP), a non-governmental organisation, had filed a complaint with Justice Adi after no investigation was ordered into the involvement of Lokayukta staff, along with a few private persons, in the extortion racket operating from within the institution. 

Narang had submitted the report on May 11, saying that an executive engineer was threatened inside a hall right next to the chamber of Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao and Rs one crore was demanded from him as bribe. 

“The common man in the State looks at the Lokayukta institution with a great respect and faith as an ombudsman against corruption. This institution is the last ray of hope for the common man who is harassed. When the report of a senior IPS officer reveals allegation of corruption inside the Lokayukta office, the institution keeping quiet on such a report would not only damage the image of the institution, but also adversely affect public faith reposed in this institution,” the complainants said. 

The incident of demand for bribe and threatening had taken place on the second floor of the Lokayukta office on May 5. A person who identified himself as Krishna Rao had told Krishnamurthy, Executive Engineer at Zilla Panchayat, Bengaluru Urban, that Joint Commissioner, Lokayukta, had summoned him to the Lokayukta office. 

On reaching the office of the Joint Commissioner (PRO), the person who claimed to be Krishna Rao threatened Krishnamurthy and demanded Rs one crore. Justice Adi has directed the Registrar of Lokayukta and Narang to hold a comprehensive probe into the incident.