Bengaluru: A Lokayukta court on Friday rejected the bail petition of Mohan Kumar, the typist in the office of the Backward Classes Welfare Minister C. Puttaranga Shetty, who was arrested with Rs 25.7 lakh in cash at Vidhana Soudha earlier this month.
The bail petition was moved by Kumar's advocate Shyam Sundar on Wednesday. After hearing the argument and counter argument, the Lokayukta court reserved its order for Friday.
The prosecutor, Ramesh Babu, argued before the court that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) was still investigating the case and it is yet to be established whose money it was.
It is suspected that the money was a kickback received from the contractors and Kumar was to hand it over to the minister, but got caught by Vidhana Soudha security officials.
Kumar was arrested on January 4 by the Vidhana Soudha police carrying the cash in a brown bag. As he was exiting the west gate of Vidhana Soudha after work, he was stopped by the cops for a check and they found the cash.
The cops also searched his residence the next day and found a hard drive and some property related documents.
Kumar maintained during the investigation that three contractors had given him money and it was related to some project.
The police, however, are investigating to establish if there was any link between the cash and the Minister and also questioning the contractor about the cash and why it was given to Kumar.
