Bengaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Lokayukta extortion case filed its second chargesheet in connection with case no. 58/2015 filed by P B Channabasappa. The chargesheet has named Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao’s son as accused number one in the case. Chief Investigating Officer of the case, DCP Labhu Ram and other officials went to the residence of Lokayukta Special Court judge V G Bopaiah and submitted the chargesheet that runs up to more than 1,600 pages. The chargesheet has named Ashwin Yerabati, Ashok Kumar, V Bhaskar alias ‘420’ Bhaskar, and suspended Lokayukta Joint Commissioner (PRO) Syed Riyaz as accused in the case. The chargesheet includes the confession statements of the accused, statements of 123 witnesses, call details report of the accused and the complainant, mobile tower location of the accused, details of the flight tickets booked by those who went to meet Ashwin in Hyderabad, details of the CCTV footage of the hotel where the alleged meeting took place, and other documents.
P B Channabasappa, on whom a Lokayukta raid was conducted in March, 2013, when he was an executive engineer of Chitradurga Zilla Panchayat, had filed a complaint stating that he had paid lakhs of rupees to the extortion syndicate run by Ashwin to get a favourable result in the Lokayukta raid case in which he was found with disproportionate assets worth Rs 1.02 crore. He had alleged that the syndicate had demanded Rs 20 lakh from him.
The SIT officials have mentioned that one Shivayogi Hiremath, a Congress worker in Haveri, knew accused Ashok Kumar. Mr. Channabasappa approached Hiremath saying that he was being harassed by the Lokayukta police in connection with the raid conducted on his house. Hiremath took him to Ashok Kumar, who in turn took Channabasappa to Bhaskar and Riyaz. All the three told him that Ashwin would help him in the matter.
“It is mentioned that Channabasappa, Hiremath, Ashok Kumar and Bhaskar went to Hyderabad in a flight on April 2. They stayed in Hotel Sitara lodge in Ameerpet. The same day, they met Ashwin in a star hotel and Ashwin assured Channabasappa that he would help him. After a few days, Ashwin also spoke to a senior official in the police wing of the Lokayukta about Channabasappa’s case. We have taken the statement of the officer who was contacted by Ashwin. It is a water tight chargesheet with clinching evidence against Ashwin and other accused,” a senior police official said.
