<p>The city police have registered a case against an RTI activist and a journalist for extorting money from three BBMP engineers. The duo had applied 120 times under the RTI Act seeking details of two projects taken up by the BBMP. <br /><br /></p>.<p>They accused the engineers of committing irregularities and extorted Rs 50,000 from them. <br /><br />Based on a complaint, the Banaswadi police have registered a case under the IPC Sections 384 (extortion) and 34 (an act done in common intention) against the duo. <br />The suspects are Mahesh P, a resident of Jyothinagar on Hennur Main Road and <br />R Ramesh, a journalist with a private TV channel and a resident of Nehrunagar in Kammanahalli. The two have obtained anticipatory bail, the police said.<br /><br />Geetha, an assistant executive engineer, stated in the complaint that Mahesh applied 80 times under the RTI seeking details of a project in five wards. Later, he applied 48 times seeking details of a building under construction in Maruthi Sevanagar sub-division of the BBMP. He met Geetha and assistant engineers B V Chandrashekhar and Vinay K and, accused them of providing incomplete details.<br /><br />Mahesh and Ramesh had met the engineers on May 15, 2015. Ramesh told the engineers to negotiate a deal with Mahesh for Rs 5 lakh to end the matter. <br /><br />After bargaining, he reduced the amount to Rs 2.5 lakh and finally to Rs 1 lakh. He claimed that he would approach the Lokayukta, the police and senior BBMP officers and expose the irregularities if the money was not paid, Geetha stated in the complaint.<br />The engineers approached the Lokayukta office to file a case against the duo. However, the Lokayukta staff told them that they had no powers to act against private persons and, directed them to the police. <br /><br />The three officers had recorded their conversation with the suspects while paying the first installment of Rs 50,000. <br /><br />Meanwhile, Ramesh aired a programme in his news channel accusing the engineers of indulging in large-scale irregularities. After the programme was telecast, the engineers lodged a complaint and also submitted the audio clip of their conversation to the police.<br /><br /></p>
<p>The city police have registered a case against an RTI activist and a journalist for extorting money from three BBMP engineers. The duo had applied 120 times under the RTI Act seeking details of two projects taken up by the BBMP. <br /><br /></p>.<p>They accused the engineers of committing irregularities and extorted Rs 50,000 from them. <br /><br />Based on a complaint, the Banaswadi police have registered a case under the IPC Sections 384 (extortion) and 34 (an act done in common intention) against the duo. <br />The suspects are Mahesh P, a resident of Jyothinagar on Hennur Main Road and <br />R Ramesh, a journalist with a private TV channel and a resident of Nehrunagar in Kammanahalli. The two have obtained anticipatory bail, the police said.<br /><br />Geetha, an assistant executive engineer, stated in the complaint that Mahesh applied 80 times under the RTI seeking details of a project in five wards. Later, he applied 48 times seeking details of a building under construction in Maruthi Sevanagar sub-division of the BBMP. He met Geetha and assistant engineers B V Chandrashekhar and Vinay K and, accused them of providing incomplete details.<br /><br />Mahesh and Ramesh had met the engineers on May 15, 2015. Ramesh told the engineers to negotiate a deal with Mahesh for Rs 5 lakh to end the matter. <br /><br />After bargaining, he reduced the amount to Rs 2.5 lakh and finally to Rs 1 lakh. He claimed that he would approach the Lokayukta, the police and senior BBMP officers and expose the irregularities if the money was not paid, Geetha stated in the complaint.<br />The engineers approached the Lokayukta office to file a case against the duo. However, the Lokayukta staff told them that they had no powers to act against private persons and, directed them to the police. <br /><br />The three officers had recorded their conversation with the suspects while paying the first installment of Rs 50,000. <br /><br />Meanwhile, Ramesh aired a programme in his news channel accusing the engineers of indulging in large-scale irregularities. After the programme was telecast, the engineers lodged a complaint and also submitted the audio clip of their conversation to the police.<br /><br /></p>
