The Hindu : Front Page : Belgaum motor vehicle inspector is worth Rs. 25 crore

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Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008
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Belgaum motor vehicle inspector is worth Rs. 25 crore

Staff Reporter

Lokayukta police raid offices and houses of eight government officials

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

A great catch: Lokayukta, N. Santosh Hegde (left) and Upa Lokayukta Patri Basavanagoud giving details about the assets possessed by some officials, in Bangalore on Tuesday.

BANGALORE: In yet another raid, the Lokayukta police on Tuesday searched the offices and residences of eight government officials, including five Bangalore city police officials, accused of possessing assets disproportionate to their sources of income. Preliminary reports valued these assets at Rs. 40 crore, of which Rs. 25 crore belongs to Mahesh Shankar Hanumashetty, motor vehicle inspector, Belgaum.

The other officials are: H. Anjaneya, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Davangere; Assistant Commissioners of Police Pratap Singh and H.K. Venkataswamy; Kumar S. Karning, Additional Superintendent of Police, Bangalore Rural; Deputy Commissioner of Police (Security), Vidhana Soudha, Lakshman Singh; Lashkari Naik, Executive Engineer, Koppal Zilla Panchayat; and Shivanna, Municipal Commissioner, Ramanagara.

As before, this operation was also simultaneous, executed by different teams across Bangalore, Ramanagara, Chitradurga, Davangere and Belgaum. All the accused officials, except one who has not been named, cooperated.

Mr. Hanumashetty, who joined the service in 1991, was found possessing documents relating to five-storeyed and four-storeyed commercial complexes in Tilakwadi Main Road in Belgaum, which are in name of his mother Parvathi Hanumashetty. He has invested about Rs. 20 crore in Popular Earth Movers, which has his brother-in-law and mother as directors.

DCP Lakshman Singh has a three-storeyed house in HAL 3rd Stage in Bangalore and is in possession of documents related to a house in Thambuchetty Palya on Hoskote Road and 3.1 acres of land in Rajarajeshwari Nagar. Additional Director-General of Police (Lokayukta) Rupak Kumar Dutta said the official claimed that the latter two did not belong to him.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Venkataswamy stays in a palatial house in Dollars Colony in BTM 2nd Stage. He was found possessing an industrial shed and a shopping complex worth Rs. 1 crore in Hulimavu.

However, from his office, the Lokayukta police found documents related to deposits of Rs. 31.5 lakh made in Veerashiva Sahakari Bank and a proposal for a commercial complex in HSR Layout.

ACP Pratap Singh, who retires this month, has a two-storeyed house in Kavalabyrasandra, a three-storeyed shopping complex, two 30x40 ft. sites in the name of his son in Sultanpalya and a site in HSR Layout. He has paid Rs. 6.41 lakh to Kanakshree Cooperative Society for a 50x80 ft. site. His wife, an employee of Hindustan Machine Tools, has a house in HMT Cooperative Society and two industrial sheds in Hegganahalli.

A sum of Rs. 1.78 lakh was recovered from his office in Yeshwantapur.

Additional Superintendent of Police Karning has a house on Uttarahalli Main Road, which he claimed is a gift from his father-in-law. He said his father-in-law also gifted him a BDA site. He has constructed a house in Belgaum’s Hanumantanagar, while his wife has a site in Police Housing Society in Mysore.

The Lokayukta police found documents related to a three-bedroom flat, a 120x60 ft site in Uttarahalli and 3.2 acres of land in Konnur in Belgaum district.

The Lokayukta sleuths found Rs. 37.46 lakh in shares and Rs. 1.81 lakh in his Gokak house.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Anjaneya has a two-storeyed house and a three-storeyed house in Chitradurga, which is in the name of his sister. He and his wife jointly possess 18 acres of land and a farm house in Ramenahalli.

Executive Engineer Naik has a house and a site in Davangere and another house and a farm house in Laxmipura in Harapanahalli taluk. Documents related to six acres of land and 13 acres of land in the names of Mr. Naik, his wife and his son in Laxmipura, Sattur and Kottur villages have been recovered.

Municipal Commissioner Shivanna has a two-storeyed house, another house in Kanakapura and a 40x50 ft site in BEML Layout in his daughter’s name. Lokayukta police found a house in Vivekananda Nagar in Ramanagara, which the official claimed to have rented.

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