Bangalore : Lokayukta Raid Traps Seven Babus
Bangalore, May 5 (DC): Lokayukta sleuths have raided the residences of seven government officials and seized assets worth Rs 7.89 crore that are disproportionate to their known sources of income. The accused government officials are S.T. Devaraju, managing director of Karnataka ST Development Corporation, Bengaluru, Narendra Govindaraya Nayaka Hittalamakki, assistant conservator of forest, Ankola, B. Laximinarayana Shetty, assistant director of Land (Army), Hospet, Ayubkhan Ghori, police constable at Hirebagewadi police station in Belgaum, S. Shantakumar, ARTO, Humanabad RTO checkpost in Bidar, K. Dasegowda, food shirastedar, Yelahanka, Bengaluru and
T.N. Bettaswamaiah, assistant executive engineer, BBMP, Yeshwanthapur in Bengaluru. Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said all the accused government officials have shown the estimation of assets below the market price.
The estimated assets seized is expected to go up when bank accounts and lockers of all the seven public servants are opened and verified. This apart, the valuation of some assets which include ivory and rosewood articles seized from the farm house of S.T. Devaraju is yet to be estimated by experts. “The total estimation might later be around Rs 12 crore,” Justice Hegde said. The Lokayukta said that Mr Devaraju, who has been in government service for the last 12 years, owns houses in Nagarbhavi Extension and also in Mysore. The police are also verifying if the accused government official has documents pertaining to the possession of ivory and sandalwood articles.
The other big shark raided by the Lokayukta sleuths Narendra Govindaraya Nayaka reportedly owns a beach resort in Goa by name Gokarna Sea View Beach Resort, in his brother Nagaraj and son Vedanta’s name. “The accused official’s brother has no source of income and he made a declaration in 1991 according to which his income is Rs 8,000. The resort is managed by Mr Madan Naik, the elder brother of Narendra’s wife. The investigating officials are still verifying details of investments in this resort and also in a bar and restaurant in Gokarna,” Justice Hegde said.
Another accused official T.N. Bettaswamaiah has provided documents pertaining to assets which are far below the market price. Bettaswamaiah owns two separate lands of 2 acres and 4 acres in Thippasandra which according to his documents are estimated at Rs 60,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively.
In fact, this official has six separate lands in the name of his wife Sukanya, according to Lokayukta officials.