Kannada, culture staff in soup after Lokayukta raid

‘They have been making fake bills and siphoning off funds’

The Lokayukta conducted a raid on Monday and found that a section of the staff of the Department of Kannada and Culture was allegedly generating fake bills in the name of artistes and programmes to siphon off funds from the department.

During the search, officials confiscated unaccounted cash of Rs. 25,000 from two staff members in the accounts section. The Lokayukta charged that department personnel were creating fake bills linked to various events that did not take place.

Apart from this, sections of the staff were allegedly involved in large-scale fraud in the purchase and distribution of gold medals meant for artistes. The Lokayukta police have filed cases against the officials.