A team of officers, appointed by Chitradurga Deputy Commissioner Divya Prabhu G.R.J., is probing the alleged misuse of funds granted by the State government for the installation of the Basavanna statue on the premises of Murugharajendra Bruhanmatha in Chitradurga.
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Mr. Divya Prabhu ordered the probe on December 1, following the complaint by former minister H. Ekanthaiah. In his complaint, Mr. Ekanthaiah said that the State government released ₹35 crore for the statue, with certain conditions. However, the seer, Shivamurthy Sharana, spent the money against the rules. The work was granted to C.J. Infra Engineering Pvt. Ltd., flouting the norms. The former Minister sought a probe into the issue and demanded action against the guilty.
B.T. Kumaraswamy, Additional Deputy Commissioner, heads the committee. Other members of the committee are the Chief Accountant of Zilla Panchayat, Project Director of District Urban Development Cell (DUDC), Executive Engineer of DUDC and the Assistant Director of the Kannada and Culture Department. The DC gave 15 days’ time to submit the inquiry report.
When The Hindu contacted Mr. Kumaraswamy, on Wednesday, the officer said that he had held one meeting of the committee so far. “All the members met once. We will verify the documents available and also do a spot inspection. Later, we will submit the report to the DC,” he said.
Shivamurthy Sharana has taken up the project to install 256ft-tall statue of the 12th century social reformer Basavanna on the mutt premises.