Lokayukta police raids the office, premises of 15 govt offices in DA cases

The Karnataka Lokayukta police on Wednesday conducted massive search operations across the state in connection with 15 Disproportionate Assets (DA) cases registered against as many government officers in various Lokayukta police stations across Karnataka.

According to a statement issued by the office of the Lokayukta, the cases were registered in Bengaluru city, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Chikkaballapura, Chikkamagaluru, Madikeri, Tumakuru, Vijayapura, Bagalkote, Kalaburagi, Raichur, Belagavi, Kolar and Yadgir.

Simultaneously, a search of the residences and offices of the accused government officers and their relatives were conducted in 62 locations across the state, the statement said.

The Searches led to the disclosure of properties of approximate value of Rs 1.90 crores, including Rs 40 lakhs in cash. The searches also disclosed documents related to several properties in the names of other people running into hundreds of acres of land and also several high end cars which are currently being suspected to be Benami properties of the accused. Matter is under investigation, the statement said.

The officers who were raided by the Lokayukta sleuths include Chetana, joint director of agriculture department in Bagalkote; Krishna Ramappa Shirur; Jinnappa Padmanna Shetti, the assistant executive engineer of Rural Drinking Water and Sanitisation Department in Muddebihal in Vijayapura; and Bhimanagouda Birada, assistant executive engineer in the public works department in Basavana Bagewadi in Vijayapura.

Raids were also carried out against P M Abdul Bashir in Kodagu; Sharanappa Madivala in Kalaburagi district; K H Ravi in Tumakuru; G N Prakash in Raichur; Shekar Hanumant Bahurupi in Hagaribommanalli in Vijayanagar; V Ramesh in Chikkaballapur; Vishwanatha Reddy in Yadgir; K B Puttaraju in Tumakuru, Kodandaramaiah V in Kolar and Gangadhar Y in Chikkamagaluru, the Lokayukta police said.