Huge ACB crackdown in K'taka: 18 officials raided, across 75 locations

Raids were conducted across 75 locations, belonging to 18 government employees in various departments in Karnataka. Illegal assets found in water tanks, drums and discarded cars

On Wednesday morning, the Anti-Corruption Bureau's (ACB) huge crackdown against corrupt officials spread a wave of panic across the state.

Raids were conducted across 75 locations, belonging to 18 government employees in various departments in Karnataka. Illegal assets found in water tanks, drums and discarded cars

Simultaneous raids were conducted across 75 locations, belonging to 18 government employees in various departments in Karnataka. The raids were in connection with disproportionate asset cases registered against them. According to an official release, 100 ACB officers and 300 staff members were involved in raids across the state today.

In Bengaluru, 14 residences and offices of three officials were raided and tens of crores of illegal assets including property papers, money, gold, and silver were recovered.

ACB has seized three cars, expensive silk saris, eight gold necklaces from Bengaluru's Traffic Safety Department's Additional Commissioner Gnanendra Kumar. Assets like jewellery, cash, and high-end watches, worth millions were also confiscated.

A large bungalow owned by Rakesh Kumar, an officer of the Urban Development Division of the Bangalore Development Authority has been seized. This bungalow was built by the Taj and is worth crores.

A luxury bungalow in Raichur belonging to engineer Ashok Reddy of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam has been taken over by ACB. The officers believe that somebody may have tipped him off about the raid as the items collected were less than what was anticipated. When ACB officials searched the house, they found jewellery, cash, and silverware hidden in the drums.

Authorities recovered items from a water tank in Girish's home who worked in National Highway Subdivision in Koppal. When inquired about the car parked next to the house, Girish said the car was not his. After inspecting the car, it was found that the documents of Girish's property were found it.

Sivananda Sharanappa, Forest Officer of Badami taluk in Bagalkot district hid gold and silver jewellery in his Khedagi house. More than one kg of jewellery, 4 kg silver items were found. In addition, money was also found in his relatives' houses. ACB officials seized documents of deposits of ₹16 lakh in the bank. The ACB team of five officers is now busy calculating the total amount since morning. They even found a note counting machine inside the house. Not only that, three kg of sandalwood was also confiscated by ACB officials. Shivananda now has to provide official documents for the purchase of sandalwood otherwise a case for the illegal acquisition of sandalwood will be filed separately under the Forest Conservation Act.

From Bengaluru, the following people were searched:

1. J. Gnanendra Kumar, Additional Commissioner, Karnataka Road Safety Authority

2. Rakesh Kumar, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Town Planning

3. B.K. Shivakumar, Additional Director, Industries and Commerce

The other officials under the radar are:

1. Ramesh Kankatte, RFO, Yadgir district

2. Basavaraj Shekar Reddy Patil, Executive Engineer, Koujalagi division, Gokak

3. Basava Kumar S. Annigeri, shirastedar (registrar) in DC office, Gadag

4. Gopinath Malagi, project manager, Nirmiti Kendra, Vijayapura

5. Shivanand P. Sharanappa Khedagi, RFO, Badami

6. Manjunath, Assistant Commissioner; Ramanagaram

7. Srinivas, General Manager, Social Welfare Department

8. Maheshwarappa, District Environmental Officer, Davangere

9. Krishnan A.E., Agricultural Produce & Livestock Market Committee (APMC) in Haveri

10. Chaluvaraj, Excise Inspector, Gundlupet taluk

11. Girish, Assistant Engineer, National Highway sub-division

12. Balakrishna H.N., Inspector, Vijayanagara Police Station, Mysuru

13. Gavirangappa, Public Works Department, Chikkamagaluru

14. Ashok Reddy Patil, AEE, Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd., Devadurga, Raichur

15. Daya Sunder Raju, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation, Dakshina Kannada.