BENGALURU: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) officials probing the Lokayukta corruption case, is reportedly finding it difficult to establish that the prime accused Ashwin Y was directly involved in the case filed by Bengaluru Urban Zilla Panchayat Executive Engineer M.N. Krishnamurthy.
A senior official in the SIT revealed that investigations so far has revealed that the complainant had never seen Ashwin nor he had spoken to him. Surprisingly, the Lokayukta police, who were investigating the case before the SIT was constituted, had claimed that it was Ashwin Rao who had contacted Krishnamurthy, claiming as Krishna Rao, an assistant to the Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao. They had also mentioned Ashwin’s name in the FIR registered in this connection.
Now, the SIT has found out that it was accused Ashok Kumar who had contacted Krishnamurthy. “Ashok Kumar has confessed that it was him who claimed as Krishna Rao and contacted Krishnamurthy, with an intention to extort money from him. He has also confessed that he had thrown the SIM card, used to contact Mr. Krishnamurthy, near Raj Bhavan and a spot inspection was conducted. So far, we have not got any clinching evidence that Ashwin was directly involved in this case,” an official said.
But, the question remains as to whom did Krishnamurthy meet when he had reportedly gone to Lokayukta’s official residence? As he had claimed that Krishna Rao had introduced him to a person, who claimed himself to be Ashwin Rao. On this part, the SIT officials are sceptical whether Krishnamurthy met Ashwin or any other accused in the gang who had used Ashwin’s name. “We would summon Krishnamurthy to identify Ashwin. If he identifies Ashwin, then we could use it as evidence,” the official said.
However, the investigators are confident that they will establish Ashwin’s link to the case, as he was allegedly in constant touch with the other gang members. “If we are not able to name him as the prime accused in this particular case, we could name him as the accused, as he was involved with other members of the gang. But in the case filed by P.B. Channabasappa, Ashwin will have a tough time to prove his innocence, as we have collected several evidences against him,” he added.
