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Bengaluru: ED attaches assets worth ₹7.48 crore of retired chief engineer
The developments come even as allegations of corruption are made against the officials and elected representatives in Bengaluru.
Assets worth around ₹7.48 crore of a retired chief engineer of the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has been attached on charges of money laundering, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Thursday.
“The attached movable/immovable properties include balance amounts lying in bank accounts, 3.41 kg gold and diamond jewellery along with immovable properties situated in various locations in Bengaluru and Mysuru which includes 2 residential sites, 1 commercial complex and 6 residential flats,” the ED said in a statement on Thursday.
The developments come even as allegations of corruption are made against the officials and elected representatives in Bengaluru.
The action has been taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
“ED initiated (a) money laundering investigation on the basis of FIR registered by Karnataka Lokayukta, Bangalore City Division, under Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. As per the charge-sheet filed by Karnataka Lokayukta in 2018, S.M. Basavaraju had amassed wealth beyond his known sources of income and was in possession of disproportionate assets worth Rs. 4.45 crore in excess to his known sources of income,” the agency said in its statement.
The investigation revealed that there was money laundering by the engineer who had amassed wealth beyond his legitimate sources of income and purchased various movable/immovable properties in his name or as benami properties, in the name of his family members including his mother-in-law.
On Wednesday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) demanded that a white paper be furnished by chief minister Basavaraj Bommai over the spending of ₹20,000 crores on Bengaluru roads over the last five years.
They alleged that the money was misused and charged the government and officials of pocketing the money while the conditions of roads in India’s IT capital remain in a pitiable condition.
Raids and searches by the Income Tax Department on October 13 on people allegedly close to former chief minister BS Yediyurappa and his son BY Vijayendra unearthed ₹750 crores of cash and other assets.
The IT had raided associates of Yediyurappa in an irrigation-related scam which was, among others, raised by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator, AH Vishwanath.
The huge budget in Bengaluru is also one of the reasons why Bommai has retained the district incharge portfolio as his cabinet minister slug it out to gain control over the finances over one of India’s biggest cities.
