The probe into the alleged extortion ring operating in the Lokayukta has turned out to be challenging, as there is no footage from CCTV cameras on the Lokayukta office premises of the days in question and all the mobile phone numbers used by the extortionists were procured using fake identity documents, two independent sources in the Lokayukta revealed.
During the in-house investigation, CCTV camera footage of the days that the extortionists were in the Lokayukta office was not made available. Sources claimed that CCTV cameras on the office premises were only live monitored and there was no digital video recorder (DVR) to save the data.
While the former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde confirmed to The Hindu that the DVR was present during his tenure (which ended in August 2011), the Lokayukta Registrar was not available to comment on when the DVR was removed.
Meanwhile, the Lokayukta police probe into the mobile numbers used by the extortionists to call government officials demanding bribe, revealed that all the numbers were procured using fake documents. The analysis of the call detail record (CDR) of the number used to call Public Works Department engineer Krishnamurthy revealed at least two other mobile phone numbers, which were also procured using fake documents. A senior official said they had crosschecked a handful of mobile phone numbers to which calls were made and received, and all of them have turned to be numbers procured using fake identity documents.
The CDR of these numbers revealed that they were used to make only a handful of calls and the SIM cards were discarded later. None of these SIM cards is active now. Also, the mobile handsets used with these SIM cards have been switched off. An alert for the IMEI numbers of these handsets have yielded no results till date.
Reconsider decision: CCB Joint Commissioner
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) probe is unlikely to take off immediately as hours after he received orders from Lokayukta Y. Bhaskar Rao to probe the alleged bribery scandal, Joint Commissioner (Crime) M. Chandrasekhar on Saturday wrote to the Lokayukta to reconsider his decision.
In his two-page letter, Mr. Chandrasekhar said he wanted to bring to the notice of the Lokayukta that a departmental inquiry was pending against his father-in-law in the Lokayukta Wing and this may cast a shadow of doubt on his ability to carry out a free and fair probe.
“I have requested him to reconsider his decision in the light of my clarification. If he again orders me to probe the allegations, I will obey the orders,” Mr. Chandrasekhar said.
