Karnataka Lokayukta corruption case: SIT questions, but gets no answers from Justice Rao

BENGALURU: Officials of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), who have recorded the statement of Lokayukta Justice Y. Bhaskar Rao in connection with the corruption in the anti-graft institution, are disappointed that Justice Rao’s statement is of no use to them, as he has reportedly claimed that he had no idea about the extortion racket.

SIT sources said that the officials were a hopeful of getting some information from Justice Rao as the scam was being run right under his nose. “He has not revealed anything that we did not know. For most of the questions, his answer was ‘I don’t know’, which was expected. The questioning has not helped us much,” an official said.

“He did not give any statement that could nail any of the accused in the case. He has completely denied any knowledge of the racket. So, we don’t think his statement will help us in framing charges against the accused,” the official said. On Thursday, SIT officials – DIG Soumendu Mukherjee, DCP Labhu Ram and others –questioned Justice Rao at his residence near Birla Temple in Adarshnagar in Hyderabad.

“He was questioned for more than three hours from 10 am till afternoon. We had prepared a questionnaire in advance to not miss out anything. More than 70 questions were asked and he answered most of them,” the official said. He reportedly told the officials that he had no idea what his son, Ashwin Yerabati, was doing, as he was not in touch with him for many years.

Justice Rao neither defended his son, nor said he was aware of his son’s alleged involvement in the scam, the officials said. “He said he was just clueless about his son’s involvement in the scam. He said that he had disowned Ashwin and did not even attend his wedding. He said has not spoken to him for many years and did not know what he was up to. However, he admitted that Ashwin came to his official residence three months ago,” the official said.

Justice Rao reportedly told the officials that he did not have any clue about the extortion syndicate being run from his official residence or office. “When questioned about suspended Joint Commissioner (PRO) Syed Riyaz, he said that he shared a cordial relationship with him as a colleague but was shocked to know about his involvement.”

Meanwhile, he also said he did not know who V. Bhaskar alias 420 Bhaskar was. When questioned about a photograph in which Bhaskar and Hotte Krishna were seen with the Lokayukta, he said that they met him in some public function and he posed with them, and that does not mean that he had an acquaintance with them,” the official said.