Bengaluru: After bribery charges surfaced against state government-appointed Lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress government has ordered a probe into the allegations. The government has appointed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe charges of bribery in the State Lokayukta office.
His son Ashwin Rao, another relative Krishna Rao and one more person are accused of blackmailing and extorting money from government officials suspected to be corrupt and nearing their retirement. According to some reports, so far they have collected Rs 180 crore in 109 cases. A senior employee of Lokayukta, Syed Riaz, is also accused of helping them. However, Justice Rao has denied the allegations.
The scam came out in the public domain after an engineer complained to Lokayukta SP Sonia Narang that some people demanded money from him at the Lokayukta head office. An efficient and honest IPS officer, Sonia Narang, was stunned by this complaint and started an investigation into the complaint. It led her directly to the office and residence of Lokayukta Bhaskara Rao.
According to some people with inside knowledge of the Lokayukta office, Ashwin Rao had two people working for him. They would collect details of senior 'corrupt' government officials nearing the retirement age. They would call him or her to Lokayukta office, threaten them with raids, demand bribe up to Rs 2 crore and finalise the deal at Lokayukta's official residence in the elite Sadashivanagar area of Bengaluru.
After this shocking incident jolted the state, at least 23 people have complained to the Lokayukta that they were approached by his close people for money. These developments forced Bhaskara Rao to address the media giving clean chit to his son Ashwin Rao. He said, "My son Ashwin Rao has nothing to do with this".
Comments
0 comment