Lokayukta raids uncover assets worth Rs 7 crore

The raids were carried out on the premises of S T Devaraju, Managing Director, Karnataka ST Development Corporation, Bangalore, Narendra Govindaraya Nayak Hittalamakki, Assistant Conservator of Forests, Ankola, B Laxminarayana Shetty, Assistant Director of Land Army, Hospet, Ayub Khan Ghori, police constable, Hirebagewadi police station (Belgaum), S Shanthakumar, ARTO, RTO Check Post, Humnabad (Bidar), K Dasegowda, Food Shirastedar, Yelahanka (Bangalore) and TN Bettaswamaiah, AEE, BBMP, Bangalore.

Giving details of the 20th raid of the year, Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said: “We decided to concentrate on lower rung officials this time around as people would often ask us why the Lokayukta zeroes in only on top rank officials. That a constable with a meagre salary can earn property worth more than Rs 33.28 lakh indicates the rampant corruption even among lower rung officials.

“All the seven officials have put in around 15 years of service and have earned property worth twice or thrice their total income by way of salaries.”  A few of the officials owned property in their wives’ names. The Lokayukta was planning to consider the wives as abetting partners in view of the recent observation made by the Mumbai High Court in connection with a corruption case. The value as per the registered records would be around Rs 7.9 crore, but if the present market price was taken into consideration, it would be around Rs 12 crore, Hegde added.

One of the targets of the raids, K Dasegowda, fled from the rear door of his house as soon as the sleuths appeared. S T Devaraju had completed 12 years of service and earned Rs 20.65 lakh through salaries, but owned property worth over Rs two crore.

Narendra G Nayak owned a bar and restaurant and a house in his brother’s name worth Rs one crore. The brother had submitted papers to the tahsildar’s office in 1993 stating that his annual income was below Rs 8,000!

Mining row: Govt loses Rs 8,000 cr

Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said the government incurred losses up to Rs 8,599 crore only from 10 mining companies, reports DHNS from Bangalore.