The State government on Friday shunted out J. Manjunath as Deputy Commissioner, Bengaluru (Urban), after he came under a cloud over corruption allegations.
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On May 22, sleuths from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested Deputy Tahsildar Mahesh and a court assistant Chetan Kumar, while they were allegedly taking a bribe of ₹5 lakh from a landowner Azam Khan.
Though Mr. Azam Khan and Mahesh, in their statement, said that Mr. Manjunath had demanded the bribe, his name was not included in the FIR, which received flak from the Karnataka High Court, following which Mr. Manjunath’s name was added as an accused in the FIR.
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Hearing the bail application of the accused Mahesh, Justice H.P. Sandesh had made several critical observations about ACB and its investigation.
This has embarrassed the State government, as Opposition leaders like H.D. Kumaraswamy had come down heavily on the government over allegations of corruption and posting tainted officers to the ACB.
After being pulled up by the high court, ACB had summoned Mr. Manjunath and interrogated him in the case on Thursday, sources said.
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Mr. Manjunath has also moved for anticipatory bail, sources said. The State government on Friday transferred him out and gave Sangappa, CEO, Zilla Panchayat, Bengaluru (Urban), the additional charge as DC, Bengaluru (Urban).
Mr. Manjunath has been posted as Director, Integrated Child Protection Scheme, Bengaluru.
This is not the first time that the office of the DC (Bengaluru Urban) has faced allegations of corruption.