Probe against R Ashok begins

BANGALORE: The Lokayukta police have initiated investigation against Home and Transport Minister R Ashok and started collecting documents from various departments about his alleged denotification of lands in Lottegollahalli.The Bangalore Urban (Lokayukta) SP Shivashankar and DySP Abdul Ahad have started the investigation on Friday by opening an FIR against Ashok. Now they will collect documents related to the particular land and notification/denotification documents from the concerned departments.The police team already has contacted the Urban Development Department at Vidhana Soudha, Sub-Registrar office at Peenya and Tahsildar office at Yeshwantpur, sources said. The alleged cases do not require much investigation as the prima-facie of the case may be proved on the basis of the documents, sources added."As of now there is no need of interrogate or conduct raid/search at the Home Minister’s office or residence. But if required,  the police will summon the home minister to record his statements about the allegations of Jayakumar Hiremath, who has filed private complaint in the Lokayukta designated court.” sources said.Meanwhile, Lokayukta special court judge N K Sudhindra Rao had directed the Lokayukta SP to investigate the matter and submit a report on the alleged illegal denotification of government land on November 5.The case was filed by one Jayakumar Hiremath accusing Ashok of being involved in illegal denotification of government land causing Rs 50 crore loss to the state.