File complaints of corruption with Lokayukta police: Laxmi Ganesh

Laxmi Ganesh, the new Superintendent of Police of Lokayukta Police Wing for Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, on Monday asked people to approach Lokayukta police regarding corruption practices in government offices.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Ganesh said the State Government on September 9 closed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and re-designated the Lokayukta police station as the police station for investigation of offences under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988.

The Lokayukta police station in Mangaluru is among the several Lokayukta police stations set up in the State. Apart from inquiring into the complaints filed under the Lokayukta Act, these stations investigated complaints under the PC Act till 2016. The complaints under the PC Act were then referred to ACB. “From September 9, we are back to investigating cases under the Lokayukta Act and also under the PC Act,” Mr. Ganesh said. People are yet to approach the Lokayukta police with complaints under the PC Act, he added.

The officer said the process of transferring cases registered under PC Act from the ACB to the Lokayukta police was on. Only on the completion of this process, they will know about the number of cases  that are being transferred.

Mr. Ganesh said at the Mangaluru Lokayukta police station there are two Deputy Superintendents of Police (DySPs)  and once Police Inspector (PI). Two posts of Police Inspectors and three posts of police constables were vacant. In Udupi, there was one DySP and one PI. A post of PI was vacant. The process will be initiated to fill the vacant posts. There was sufficient staff to carry out search operations, he added.

Mr. Ganesh has served in the city as Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Traffic) before his transfer to Bengaluru two years ago. He was Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru Rural, before his transfer to Mangaluru Lokayukta police.

Cheluvaraju and Kalavalti are the two new DySPs for Mangaluru Lokayukta police. Jagadish will be the new DySP for Udupi Lokayukta police. Amanullah and Jayaram are the two new police inspectors for Mangaluru and Udupi Lokayukta police stations respectively.