[size=10pt]Lokayukta nets 8 babus
DH News Service,Bangalore:
In yet another pointer to rampant corruption in government machinery, Lokayukta sleuths on Tuesday raided the homes of eight senior officials across the State and unearthed dispropor-tionate assets worth nearly Rs 40 crore.
This is the fourth in the series of raids conducted by the Lokayukta this year against officials accused of corruption.
The senior officials in the Lokayukta dragnet were Laxman Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Security) Vidhana Soudha (Bangalore); Shiva-nna, Municipal Commi-ssioner of Ramanagara; Mahesh Shankar Hanuma Shetty, RTO, Belgaum; H Anjaneya, DySP, Dava-ngere; Pratap Singh, ACP, Yeshwantpur (Bangalore); H K Venkataswamy, ACP, Chickpet (Bangalore); Kumar S Karning, Addi-tional SP (Bangalore District) and Lashkari Naik, Executive Engineer, Koppal Zilla Panchayat.
The raids on the homes and offices of the officials — under the supervision of R K Dutta, Additional DGP — began at midnight on Monday and continued well into early Tuesday.
Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said all eight officials were found to have accumulated assets disproportionate to their known source of income. Some of the assets were in benami names. Further investigations are on.
“The raids are not targeted against any particular office. We are not into harassment of any official. Only corrupt officials will be targeted. While 45 to 50 per cent of all officials raided are police officers, the rest are motor vehicle inspectors,” said Justice Hegde.
Setting at rest the issue of Lokayukta seeking more teeth, Justice Hegde made it clear that he has not sought powers for the Lokayukta to keep officers under suspension. Though the Cabinet had approved it, no notification to this effect has been issued, he explained.[/size]
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