The fight against illegal hoardings has got a shot in the arm: the Lokayukta police on Saturday conducted searches on the office premises of 10 ad firms.
A senior Lokayukta police official said the searches yielded documents allegedly indicating the ad agencies conniving with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials to put up illegal hoardings as well as multiple hoardings with a single licence. “In at least five firms, we recovered accounts and other details pointing towards the payments made to BBMP officials,” the official said, adding that searches on other agencies would follow.
An FIR on illegal hoardings was filed a year ago, but the case was taken up only recently after the High Court asked the Lokayukta police to probe all pending cases.
A Lokyayukta official said the firms had been selected based on information received from BBMP Revenue officers and the eight reports by the former Assistant Commissioner, Advertisements, K. Mathai, who was recently transferred.
RTI activist Saidatta was the complainant in the case before Upalokayukta Subhash B. Adi in 2015 which was later handed over to the city wing of the Lokayukta police. While earlier estimates had pegged the loss of revenue because of illegal ads at Rs. 800 crore, Mr. Mathai’s reports peg it at a whopping Rs. 2,000 crore.
Searches yield proof of agencies allegedly conniving with BBMP officials to put up illegal hoardings
