Karnataka: Massive Lokayukta raids at various locations; Click for full details

The Lokayukta police on Tuesday launched simultaneous raids at multiple locations targeting high-ranking officials. Read further on Dynamite News:

Bengaluru: In a sweeping crackdown on alleged corruption within Karnataka’s irrigation and rural development departments, the Lokayukta police on Tuesday launched simultaneous raids at multiple locations targeting high-ranking officials.

Raids In Belagavi

In Belagavi, the residence of Ashok Vasand, Chief Engineer of the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Limited (KNNL) Dharwad division, was raided by Lokayukta officials. The raid, conducted at his Ramtirth Nagar residence, led to the seizure of gold, diamond jewellery, and Rs 1.5 lakh in cash. Simultaneous searches were being carried at his office in Dharwad.

Further expanding the operation, the Lokayukta team, led by Superintendent of Police Hanumantharaya, conducted coordinated raids across Vasand’s other premises in Dharwad, Kajjidoni, Jamkhandi, and Jakanur. Officials are scanning documents and assets for evidence of disproportionate wealth and corruption.

Parallel Operations

Meanwhile, in another parallel operation, raids were carried out in Kalaburagi, Bengaluru, and Vijayapura against Executive Engineer Mallikarjun Alipur and Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) Ramachandra. This team was led by SP BK Umesh and DySP Geetha Benal.

All the operations are part of an ongoing state-wide investigation into corruption in public works, irrigation schemes, and misuse of government funds.

Officials confirmed that the searches are still ongoing, and a detailed inventory of seized items will be released once preliminary scrutiny is complete.

Vigilance Against Corruption

The Lokayukta has ramped up its vigilance against corruption in Karnataka’s bureaucratic machinery, and these latest raids point to a larger effort at cleaning up irregularities in critical public departments.

Earlier Raids By Karnataka Lokayukta

Bengaluru: A huge cache of cash, jewellery, watches and monuments have been recovered during the raids that were conducted by Karnataka Lokayukta earlier today.

The state's anti-corruption agency was conducting raids at several places spread across three districts in the state on Thursday. The raids were conducted in Kolar, Bengaluru City and Mandya districts in connection with four cases registered with the agency against officials of various departments.

Around 25 places belonging to officers were raided and records were checked by the Karnataka Lokayukta.

In Chikkaballapur, raids were conducted against Krishnaveni MC, Senior Geologist in the Department of Mines and Geology and in Mandya, it was conducted against Mahesh, MD Kaveri Neeravai Nigama in Surface Water Data Centre Bengaluru.

The officials who were raided include NK Thippe Swamy, Director of Town and Country Planning and Mohan K, Excise Superintendent in Bengaluru City.

Earlier in July, Karnataka Lokayukta, conducted multiple raids at several places spread across six units or districts in the state against 12 state officials.

The Lokayukta raided the residences of six officials in Bangalore city, two officials in Bangalore Rural District and two officials in Shimoga district and one officer each in Yadagiri and Tumkur. Fifty-four places belonging to officers were raided.

The officials who were raided include Additional Director of Industries and Commerce Department CT Muddu Kumar, Project Director of Yojana Nirdarshakaru Balawanth, Senior Veterinary Officer R Siddappa, Municipal Commissioner of Hebbagodi CMC K Narasimha Murthy, Joint Commissioner of Commercial Tax Ramesh Kumar and several other officials.

The Karnataka Lokayukta, an anti-corruption body of the state that investigates and reports on corruption, maladministration, and other grievances related to public servants. (with Agency inputs)