BJP leaders want arrest of Deve Gowda, his two sons

About a dozen ruling BJP MLAs in Karnataka today appealed to the Lokayukta Court to take suo moto cognisance of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and his two sons allegedly threatening police officials inquiring into a case against his eldest son H D Balakrishne Gowda.

Addressing a press conferences, the MLAs, under the leadership of Excise Minister M P Renukacharya, slammed Gowda for reportedly “threating” Lokayukta ADGP Jeevan Gaonkar in connection with the on-going probe ordered by the Lokayukta court on a private complaint against Balakrishne Gowda.

The complainant has alleged Balakrishne Gowda had amassed wealth dis-proportionate to his kno-wn sources of income. Renukacharya and Political Secretary to the Chief Minister B J Puttaswamy also objected to the “telephonic threat” to Lokayukta SP Shivakumar by Deve Gowda and his son.

Gaonkar was transferred from the post by the government yesterday. They also questioned the recent meeting between Gowda’s another son, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy with CID DGP Shankar Bidari recently in connection with the FIR filed on the alleged financial irregularities occurred while awarding contract in Upper Krishna project during 1995-98 when Deve Gowda was the chief minister.

Puttaswamy said, he was contemplating to approach the Lokayukta court seeking investigation against Gowda and his sons for allegedly preventing officials from discharging their duties and attempting to “destroy” evidence.

The actions by Deve Gowda amounted to a case of contempt of court, Puttaswamy claimed, but could not explain the reasons behind the sudden transfer of Gaonkar.

Renukacharaya, a staunch supporter of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, hit out at former lokayukta Santosh Hegde for his silence over the ‘threats’ by the Gowdas.

He said he would write to Lok Sabha Speaker Me-ira Kumar seeking action against Kumaraswamy, MP, for threatening a police official.