The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Lokayukta nets five officials

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Lokayukta nets five officials

Staff Reporter

Wife of a Range Forest Officer is a partner in a mining company

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

On the radar: Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde displaying at a press conference in Bangalore on Thursday photographs of some of the houses that were raided.

BANGALORE: The Lokayukta police on Thursday raided the offices and residences of five government officials, including a Range Forest Officer who is alleged to have links with a mining company, and traced assets totalling over Rs 9.89 crore, which is disproportionate to their known sources of income.

The officials raided are Khaja Mohinuddin, Range Forest Officer, Tirthahalli Training Centre; B.T. Chowhan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Dharwad; C. Krishnappa, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Dharwad; V. Nagesh, Police Sub-Inspector, Bangalore Crime Branch; and G. Tambad, Regional Transport Officer, Davangere.

Mining firm

Mr. Mohinuddin’s wife and his elder brother run a mining firm, Pooja Mining Company, at Chikkanayakanahalli in Tumkur district, Rupak Kumar Dutta, Additional Director-General of Police (Lokayukta), told presspersons.

Unlike earlier instances, the Lokayukta police this time limited the raids to five government servants. “We did this to have a better command over the entire operation. We wanted to search as many places of the officers as possible,” said Mr. Dutta.

Mr. Nagesh, who joined service in 1974, was found to have assets of Rs. 4.64 crore. Apart from his house in Ramohalli near Kengeri in Bangalore, the houses of his two sons-in-law and a daughter were searched.

The assets include a choultry, a two-storeyed building with a swimming pool, and a school building in Ramohally. A three-storeyed building in Madiwala is in the name of daughter Rekha, and a two-storeyed building in Ramohalli is in the name of another daughter, Kusuma. His wife, Chandramma, has given two houses on rent and has 1.20 acres of land.

Suspicion

The Lokayukta police suspect Mr. Nagesh’s involvement in real estate dealings with the recovery of 29 blank, signed stamp papers and sale deeds worth Rs. 27 lakh. They also found a car, a multi-utility vehicle, an ambulance and Rs. 2.5 lakh in cash.

Mr. Krishnappa has properties worth Rs. 2.64 crore, including a business complex worth Rs. 1 crore, near Hinkal, on the Ring Road in Mysore. He also has 25 acres of converted land in University Layout, Mysore. His wife, Saroja, has 15.15 acres of land with a farmhouse in Srirangapatna. His son owns a liquor shop in Mandya, while his daughter is studying in the U.S.

Sites, areca plantation

Mr. Mohinuddin, who stays in R.T. Nagar in Bangalore, has three sites in K.R. Puram. Documents related to a 20-acre arecanut plantation in Kadur, eight guntas of land in Arsikere taluk and a house in Vijayapura extension in Chikmagalur have been also been seized by the Lokayukta police. His assets are worth Rs 85.69 lakh. The investigating team is scrutinising records related to Pooja Mining Company, which is run by his wife and his elder brother.

Land, farmhouse

Mr. Chowhan was found to have properties worth Rs. 42.19 lakh in his hometown of Bagalkot and in Bijapur district. It includes 23 acres of land in Bijapur, a house and 23.4 acres of land in the name of his wife and 20 acres of land and a farmhouse in Baradola village.

From Mr. Tambad, the Lokayukta police seized documents related to properties worth about Rs. 1.37 crore, including a house, a site and 10 acres of land in Davangere and 34 acres of land in his wife’s name in Jagalur village. The Lokayukta police are verifying four documents related to the purchase of 20 acres of land in Haveri district and also the amounts in different banks.

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