Karnataka Lokayukta corruption case: SIT to submit chargesheet today, Riyaz accused No. 1
Bengaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is investigating the Lokayukta corruption scam, has nailed the former joint commissioner and public relations officer, Lokayukta Syed Riyazathullah, as accused number one (A1) in the chargesheet in the First Information Report (crime number 56/2015) under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) and Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal conspiracy and destruction of key evidence.
The SIT is likely to submit the chargesheet, which has named six accused including Riyazathullah, in the special Lokayukta court on Tuesday. In the nearly 1,500-page-long chargesheet, the other accused in the extortion racket, which has allegedly been thriving in the state’s premier anti-corruption watchdog since 2014 have been named as Ashok Kumar (A2), Srinivasa Gowda and Shankare Gowda (A3 and A4), V. Bhaskar alias 420 Bhaskar (A5) and Y. Ashwin (A6), who is the son of Lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao.
“Riyaz is reportedly in the centre of the entire corruption scam in the Lokayukta, which took off sometime in 2014 with the Lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao’s son Ashwin and other middlemen, and has been thriving since then. Riyaz and other suspects had converted the office of the Lokayukta into an office of corruption. He misused his official position and with other accused, called several government officers to pay huge bribes to avoid anti-corruption raids by the Lokayukta,” said an official source, who added that the SIT is in the process of ascertaining the quantum of money, which may have exchanged hands in the alleged corruption scam.
The accused have been charged under Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), Sections 384 (extortion) r/w 419 (punishment for impersonation), 420 (cheating) r/w 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the charge sheet.
The Lokayukta corruption scam came to the fore in June this year when the Superintendent of Police, Lokayukta (City wing), Sonia Narang registered an FIR (56/2015) against Ashwin Y. alias Krishna Rao, son of Bhaskar Rao. Executive Engineer M.N. Krishnamurthy gave a written complaint to the SP that he was called to the Lokayukta office on May 4 by one Krishna Rao, who reportedly demanded Rs 1 crore bribe from him to avoid an anti-corruption raid by the Lokayukta.
Justice Rao had asked the government that the racket should be probed by an external agency, following which the government constituted the SIT to investigate the scam. The team has arrested six people since then.
PIL against Ayukta Bhaskar Rao
It’s troubles galore for Lokayukta Y. Bhaskar Rao, who is facing the heat of corruption scam in the Lokayukta office in which his son is one of the prime accused. A PIL was filed before the high court against Justice Rao for allegedly continuing to hold the office of Supreme Court senior advocate despite being the Lokayukta.
The petitioner seeks directions from the court to order an independent probe into the alleged role of Justice Rao in the corruption scam in the Lokayukta and holding two posts at the same time. The PIL prays for an interim order to stop Justice Rao from disposing of pending cases.
