Rich BDA 'gardener' under scanner after raids

Among the 21 government officials raided by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Friday during a sweeping crackdown, one name stood out: Shivalingaiah.

What puzzled many was that Shivalingaiah, listed as a gardener in the Bangalore Development Authority's Banashankari office and drawing a monthly salary of Rs 48,000, has four palatial houses in Bengaluru, one site in Doddakallasandra, 510 grams of gold jewellery, 700 grams of silver articles, a one-acre, nine-gunta farmland in Channapatna taluk, three cars, several two-wheelers, Rs 80,000 in cash, a bank balance of Rs 80,000 and Rs 10 lakh worth of household appliances.

It may be unthinkable how a gardener, whose job profile included maintaining plants and trees in the BDA office, could amass so much wealth, even illegally .

It has, however, emerged that Shivalingaiah was a gardener only on paper. He was transferred from the BDA's horticulture department years ago and started functioning as a work inspector under an assistant executive engineer in Banashankari. His designation didn't change though. He is due to retire this month, a BDA source said.

A work inspector is a non-technical position under Group C and is responsible for the first level of quality control of BDA works.

Curiously, two retired officials were also raided.

Among them is Dr K Janardhan, a retired registrar (evaluation) of Bengaluru North University. Besides a house, two sites and three flats in Bengaluru, he runs a school in Bangarupalem in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district. He also owns seven acres and 30 guntas of agricultural land in Chittoor, 401 grams of gold jewellery, 3.575 grams of silver articles, four cars, three two-wheelers, Rs 3.17 lakh in cash and Rs 17.8 lakh worth household articles. His son is said to be building a restaurant in Bengaluru's plush Kasturba Road while his wife is the head of the Telugu Department at Bangalore University.

The second retired official is Manjunath G, a superintending engineer in the Public Works Department.

In Bengaluru, two more officials were also raided. They were Madhusudan V, District Registrar, Inspector General of Registrations, and D Siddappa, Deputy Chief Electrical Inspector.

Bagalkot Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Yallappa Padasali was also raided. He has two houses in the Dharwad district, one in Koppal, one site in Hubballi and three commercial complexes in the Dharwad district among other assets.

According to the ACB, the raids were carried out by 555 officials who split into 80 teams.

Uma Prashant, Superintendent of Police (Administration), ACB, said the raids would continue on the premises of some officials on Saturday while the exercise had concluded in Bengaluru.

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said the raids were done for a "clean and corruption-free administration".

"After a raid, public servants have to provide accounts and prove where they got the money and wealth from. This takes time. They can go to court too, leading to long-drawn legal battles. The attempt is to jolt officers," he added.

On March 16, the ACB searched 77 places linked to 18 government officers.

The possession of huge assets does not necessarily mean they were gained illegally. If a charge is made out in the preliminary probe, the ACB books the officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The next step is to seek approval from the respective government department to prosecute them. This could be a tedious process. Many officials are eventually absolved of corruption charges and reinstated in their positions.