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ACB conducts raids at premises of 18 govt officials, seizes assets in Bengaluru
ACB added that the searches were based on complaints from the public about the irregularities in various government establishments.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Karnataka is conducting searches on the premises of 18 government officials in connection with disproportionate assets cases, the agency said on Wednesday.
On the first day of the raids, searches were conducted at 75 locations by a team of 400 ACB sleuths, including 100 officers, a statement from the agency said. The total amount of seizures is yet to be known.
ACB added that the searches were based on complaints from the public about the irregularities in various government establishments.
According to the ACB, in Bengaluru, 14 residences and offices of three officials were raided and illegal assets, including property papers, money, gold, and silver, were recovered. During the raid, ACB 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 from the officer’s house.
A large bungalow owned by Rakesh Kumar, an officer of the urban development division of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has been seized, the agency said.
A luxury bungalow in Raichur belonging to engineer Ashok Reddy Patil of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam has been taken over by the ACB. When the ACB officials searched the house, they found jewellery, cash, and silverware hidden in the drums.
In another incident, one Girish, an assistant engineer with the national highway subdivision in Koppal, blatantly refused to accept the car parked next to his house was owned by him. After inspecting the car, officials found documents of Girish’s property in it. The car was later seized.
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 from his premises. In addition, money was also found in his relatives’ houses. ACB officials seized documents of deposits of ₹16 lakh in the bank, the agency said. Officials said they even found a note counting machine inside the house. Not only that but three kg of sandalwood was also confiscated by the 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.
The officers raided on Wednesday are Gnanendra Kumar, Rakesh Kumar, BDA, town planning, Ramesh Kankatte, Range Forest Officer (RFO), social forestry, Yadgir, Basavaraj Shekar Reddy Patil, an executive engineer of Koujalagi Division, Basava Kumar S Annigeri, a shirastedar at Gadag DC office; Gapinath Sa N Malagi, the project manager with Nirmiti Kendra at Vijayapura; B K Shivakumar, additional director of industries and commerce, Bengaluru; Sivananda Sharanappa, RFO of Badami in Bagalkot and Manjunath, assistant commissioner in Ramanagar.
Srinivas, the general manager with Social welfare Department at Maheshwarappa, District Environmental Officer, Davangere; Krishnan AE, APMC, Haveri; Chaluvaraj, excise inspector, Gundlupet Taluk in Chamarajanagar district; Girish, an assistant engineer with the national highway subdivision; Balakrishna H N, police inspector, Vijayanagara police station; Gavirangappa, AEE with Chikkamagaluru PWD; Ashok Reddy Patil, AEE with Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited at Devadurga in Raichur and Daya Sunder Raju, AEE with KPTCL in Dakshina Kannada.
While the ACB is yet to reveal details of the operation and seizures, officials said that among the seized items were 3 kg of sandalwood logs from an RFO in Bagalkot. The searches are still underway.
As per the numbers released by the state anti-corruption agency, it has registered 1,803 cases since its inception in 2016. While most of the cases are under trial, the ACB has managed to get a conviction in 10 cases only, and in 25 cases the officials were acquitted.
Among the 1,803 cases registered, charge sheets have been submitted in 753 cases while 682 cases are under trial. In these cases, 1,473 government staff, including 391 Class-I and above and people’s representatives, were arrested. While 1,335 accused officials were suspended, a departmental enquiry was conducted against 493 people.
