Karnataka Lokayukta scam probe: SIT still awaiting order to register case

Bengaluru: It's more than a week since the government under direction from the Lokayukta had ordered for setting up the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the in house corruption in the Lokayukta, but the SIT has not been able to start the probe as yet because they are not yet empowered to do so. The team, which comprises 12 officers, is waiting for the government order, which will grant them police powers to register and investigate criminal cases.

“Any delay in registering of a criminal case is harmful for investigation because evidence can get tampered and witnesses turn hostile. The Lokayukta police are waiting to hand over the case file to the SIT and the SIT is waiting for the government order without which it cannot move ahead,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.

The government had issued the first order on June 30; on setting up of the SIT soon after the Lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao had directed the Lokayukta police to stop the probe in the alleged corruption scam and had asked the government to set up an independent body to do so. The government had appointed Additional Director General of Police & Inspector General of Prisons Kamal Pant to head the SIT. Mr. Pant wrote back to the government on staff allotment and suggested the names of 12 officers for the team, including the Deputy Inspector General of Police & Director, Security & Vigilance, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) Soumendu Mukherjee and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Bengaluru West) Labhuram.

On July 4 he wrote to the government to grant police powers to the SIT. While the government in its letter of July 7 has approved the staff allotment and sanctioned office space to the SIT in Carlton House, which is also the headquarter of Criminal Investigation Bureau (CBI), it is yet to grant police powers to the team.