MLA amassed wealth through corruption: Lokayukta police

The Lokayukta police on Saturday informed the Special Lokayukta Court in Bangalore that Yelahanka MLA S.R. Vishwanath is in possession of Rs. 7.74 crore worth assets, which are disproportionate to his known sources of income, and they were amassed through corrupt practices.

The police had registered a case on December 16, 2011, on the orders of the court, based on a private complaint filed by V. Shashidhar. The police raided various premises of Mr. Vishwanath, including his residence, office, petrol station as well as his friends’ houses on December 19, 2011 and February 23, 2012 and zeroed in on a huge cache of gold and silver jewellery, cash, property documents and so on. The police, in their report, stated that they evaluated Mr. Vishwanath’s assets and income for the verification period, i.e. May 30, 1985 to December 19, 2011. During this period, Mr. Vishwanath had created assets worth Rs. 9.11 crore under various names, including his wife, children and benami. During the same period, his expenditure was Rs. 3.5 crore.

159.02 per cent

Lokayukta police pointed out that Mr. Vishwanath’s earnings through known sources of income during this period was Rs. 4.87 crore. After detailed investigations and evaluation, they said Mr. Vishwanath had amassed assets worth Rs. 7.74 crore in excess of his known sources of income, amounting to excess possession of 159.02 per cent. With this, the police concluded that Mr. Vishwanath had amassed wealth through corrupt means.

The investigative team was headed by City Superintendent of Police P.K. Shivashankar and Deputy SP S. Girish and their team, a Lokayukta communiqué said.

A senior Lokayukta police official told The Hindu the next step would be for the court to take cognisance of the report, issuing summons and conducting the trial. The police will now seek the Legislative Assembly Speaker’s sanction to prosecute the MLA.