Bengaluru: Y. Ashwin, son of Lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao with the help of former joint commissioner and Lokayukta public relations officer Syed Riyaz, had reportedly messaged and called Executive Engineer, Zilla Panchayat, M.N. Krishnamurthy, to the Lokayukta office on May 4 to demand a bribe of Rs 1 crore to avoid anti-corruption raid.
Riyaz and Ashwin are accused number one and two in the first chargesheet in the FIR 56/2015, which was submitted by the Special investigation Team (SIT) in the special Lokayukta court on Wednesday. “Riyaz has played a pivotal role in the Lokayukta extortion and corruption scam. He along with Ashwin and other accused had zeroed in on Mr Krishnamurthy and called him to the Lokayukta office in the guise of Krishna Rao to demand a bribe of '1 crore to preempt Lokayukta raid,” said an official source. Riyaz and Ashwin along with four other accused Ashok, V. Bhaskar, Srinivasa and Shankare Gowda have been charged under Sections 8, 9 and 10 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) and Sections 385 (Putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extorÂtion), 419 (impersonation), 201 (disappearance of evidence) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the 1,500-page-long chargesheet.
The extortion racket had been allegedly thriving in the state’s premier anti-corruption watchdog since 2014 after Riyaz, who has been working in the Lokayukta for more than 15 years as the chief of PRO, found an alleged and wanting ‘ally’ in Y. Ashwin, who was not suitably employed and was reportedly looking at “easy” money.
The duo then got more people – the accused – in the coterie to assist them in obtaining information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act on officers, especially executive engineers, who may be retiring and funds that may have been released to government departments for development work. “They then obtained multiple SIM cards using forged identities and fake address to make calls to officers demanding hefty bribes,” said an official source.
Riyaz not only misused his official position in the Lokayukta, but he also damaged the reputation of the anti-corruption institution, he said.
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 alias Krishna Rao, son of Bhaskar Rao, after 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.
(With inputs from Bellie Thomas)
