SIT will seek sanction to prosecute Ayukta PRO

SIT sources said they were preparing the chargesheets on the cases filed by P.B. Channabasappa and P.N. Krishnamurthy. “We need to take permission from the state government before filing chargesheet in the court, as the government is the appointing authority of Joint Commissioner in the anti-corruption agency. As we are preparing the chargesheet in connection with the case filed by Krishnamurthy, we will be writing to the government on Monday, seeking a PSO against Riyaz,” an official said.

The SIT has already written to the government seeking PSO against Riyaz regarding the complaint filed by Channabasappa. However, they are yet to receive a reply. “We are drafting both chargesheets. It will take some more days for us to prepare and submit it to the court,” the official said.

Krishnamurthy had alleged that he had land worth several crores in Koramangala but was finding it difficult to get the khata from the BBMP for the said land. Early this year, brokers Narasimha Rao and Sadik, who got in touch with him, told him that there was a good person to solve his problem and took him to a star hotel where Ashwin Yerabati met him and assured that he would speak to BBMP officials and help him get the documents. The gang allegedly demanded Rs 80 lakh from the complainant to get the job done.

The complainant had allegedly paid them a total of Rs 20.91 lakh, in which Ashwin was directly paid Rs 7 lakh while Narasimha Rao received Rs 3.91 lakh. Bhaskar allegedly got the highest share of Rs 10 lakh. He had also alleged that he met Ashwin and other accused in the conference hall which is next to PRO Riyaz’s chamber in the Lokayukta office to give the documents related to the land to Ashwin.