E-Paper
Down the drain: ₹13 lakh recovered from drainage pipes of civic engineer's house in Karnataka
A total of ₹54 lakh was recovered from a civic engineer's house in Karnataka, including ₹13 lakh hidden in a drainage pipe, during a raid by the anti-corruption bureau.
Anti-corruption bureau sleuths raided the residence of a junior engineer of the Public Welfare Department (PWD) in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi district on Wednesday and seized cash worth ₹13 lakh from one of the drainage pipes at his home. The search by the Karnataka anti-corruption bureau (ACB) comes amid an ongoing crackdown on government officials accused of amassing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.
In an unverified video tweeted by news agency ANI, purported to be shot during the raid, ACB officials could be seen collecting bundles of cash coming out of a drainage pipe at the junior engineer’s house.
“A total of ₹54 lakh in cash was found during the raid, including ₹13 lakh from one of the drainage pipes at the house of a PWD junior engineer,” Mahesh Meghannanavar, ACB's superintendent of police (north eastern range), told ANI.
A team of 400 ACB officials searched as many as 60 locations across the state, including premises of 15 officers of various departments in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Mandya, and Ballari, among other areas.
According to the bureau, searches were also conducted at locations belonging to Mangalore Smart City executive engineer KS Lingegowda, Mandya executive engineer Srinivas K, Doddaballapur revenue inspector Lakshminarashimaiah, former project manager of Bengaluru Nirmiti Kendra Vasudev, Bengaluru Nandini Dairy general manager B Krishna Reddy, Gadag agriculture department joint director TS Rudreshappa and Bailhongal cooperative development officer AK Masti, among others.
An ACB official told news agency PTI they seized property-related documents, huge quantities of gold and silver ornaments, cash and investment documents from them.
