The Lokayukta police arrested a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) joint commissioner along with a first division assistant over bribery charges, an official in the know of the development said on Tuesday. The arrested officer, SM Srinivas, is the joint commissioner of BBMP west division, said police, adding the second accused was identified as Umesh.
The arrest was made based on a complaint from one SM Manjunath alleging that the joint commissioner was demanding a bribe for a property document (khata) transfer. Following this, a team of officials led by superintendent of police Ashok KV and deputy superintendent of police Antony Raj laid the trap and caught Umesh as soon as he received the cash on behalf of his boss and later arrested Srinivas.
The office had demanded ₹12 lakh from the complainant for the khata transfer (a document that shows the account of a property owner listed in the BBMP’s property registry). According to an official release, the accused were caught while accepting an advance amount of ₹4 lakh at their office in Malleswaram.
The Lokayukta officials questioned the duo for over an hour before they were taken into custody.
{{/usCountry}}The Lokayukta officials questioned the duo for over an hour before they were taken into custody.
{{/usCountry}}This is the first big raid by the Lokayukta since it got back the police wing and powers to register cases. The development comes just days after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), a government-controlled agency, was dissolved by the state government following an order of the Karnataka high court.
In August, the high court had abolished the ACB, formed by the Congress government headed by the then chief minister Siddaramaiah in 2016 and transferred all pending cases before the ACB to the Lokayukta police division.
A division bench comprising justice B Veerappa and justice K S Hemalekha of Karnataka high court had said that all pending cases before the ACB will now get transferred to the Lokayukta Police division.
The order was passed in connection with a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Chidananda Aras, advocates’ association and social activist SR Hiremath’s Samaj Parivartan community, challenging the formation of ACB.
“All inquiries, investigations and other disciplinary proceedings pending before ACB will get transferred to the Lokayukta. However, all other proceedings held by ACB till today are hereby saved and the police wing of Karnataka Lokayukta shall proceed from the stage at which they are pending as on today, in accordance with law,” the high court said.