Bengaluru: Banashankari police arrested three people, including a dismissed police constable, for allegedly Lokayukta and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials to extort from senior members of the government. During the investigation, it was found that several calls were made from Karwar jail.
The accused are Murugappa Ningappa Kumbara, (50) from Belagavi, Abubakar, 36, from Thirthahalli and Amar Singh from Bihar. Kumbara, a police constable for 16 years in Belagavi, was dismissed after he was found to have misused bus warrants issued to policemen on duty.
The arrests were made after Prasanna Kumar, a BWSSB Assistant Executive Engineer in Hoskote, filed a complaint with Banashankari police, saying he had received an extortion call on October 25. The caller, identifying himself as ACB DysP Purushottham, reportedly told the officer that there were several complaints of corruption against him and that there would be raids on his office and residence. The caller then demanded money to avoid such raids.
The officer also deposited '90,000 into an account number given by the caller. A few days after the incident, the officer received another call from the same person, demanding more money. The officer refused and later checked with the ACB, only to realise that he was being cheated. He approached the police then.
“When call detail records were analysed, it was found that Kambara, who is in Karwar jail, had made the call. Kambara had been contacted by Abubakar, who also made a conference call to the victim. Based on the clues, Abubakar was arrested in Hubballi. When questioned, he led us to Kumbara. The former policeman was taken into police custody after obtaining court permission. Amar Singh, to whose account the money was deposited, was picked up from Yashwanthpur,” police said.
Kumbara met Abubakar, who had been convicted for murder, sandalwood smuggling and counterfeit currency cases, and Amar Singh at the Dharwad jail.
Abubaker and Amar were released but Kumbara stayed in touch with them. The accused have also extorted from tahsildars, engineers, sub-registrars, secretaries of various departments, RTOs and education department officials. Earlier, they extorted money, then switched to ACB sleuths after the department was formed.
“Abubakar had purchased 10 SIM cards in the name of a mentally unsound woman. He also created a bank account in her name. Preliminary investigations revealed that they have extorted several crores. They have over 30 cases against them across the state and many officials have not approached police fearing that their reputation would be damaged,” police said.
ACB raids homes of five govt officials
The sleuths of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) conducted simultaneous raids on the residences and offices of five government officials across the state on Tuesday morning.
Raids were conducted on premises belonging to the following officials - K.R. Mahesh, Assistant Engineer, Mysuru Urban Development Authority; G.C. Suresh, Revenue Inspector, Kengeri, Bengaluru South Taluk; Narasimhaiah, Office Superintendent, Muzrai Department, Kolar; M.R. Chalapathi Gowda, Office Accountant, Yeldur Gram Panchayat office, Srinivasapura, Kolar and Girish, Bill Collector, Bannikuppe Gram Panchayat, Ramanagar.
In Mysuru, the ACB police raided the house of Mahesh in Vijayanagar 1st stage and his office. A flat owned by him in Brigade Apartment in J. C. Nagar and Sapthagiri Academy, an academic and technical training institute run by him, were also raided and searches conducted.
In Benglauru, G. C. Suresh’s house and his father-in-law’s house in Srigandha Kaval were raided. In addition, a search was conducted in a building at ITI Layout in Mallatthalli being constructed by him.
Sources said that illegal assets worth several crores disproportionate to their known sources of income were found during the raids. The ACB has registered FIRs against the officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act and are further investigating.
