A raid by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials on a Junior Engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) in Kalaburagi yielded assets, including cash, that were said to be disproportionate to the known sources of the officer’s income.
A team of ACB sleuths headed by Mahesh Meghannanavar, Superintendent of Police (North-Eastern Range of ACB), raided the residence of Shanthagouda Biradar [Junior Engineer attached to the Jewargi Sub-Division of PWD] at Gubbi Colony at about 7 a.m. on Wednesday and found many property documents and cash.
The ACB officers, who had accurate information about the spot in the house where the unaccounted for money was stashed, summoned a plumber and got a PVC pipe installed for drainage cut and recovered around ₹13 lakh in cash hidden inside the pipe. They also found cash in other spots in the house, including a steel almirah and wardrobe in the bedroom. It was learnt that the total cash found in the house came to cover ₹40 lakh.
The property documents found in the residence indicated that the PWD officer owned houses at Gubbi Colony and Badepur area in Kalaburagi, two residential plots at Brahmapur and two other plots at Kotanur D Extension, 40 acres of farmland, including 14 acres on the outskirts of Hangaraga in Yadrami taluk and six acres off Yalgod Road and two farmhouses. As per sources in the ACB, the value of the property is yet to be ascertained. “We have raided three property belonging to Shanthagouda Biradar. As we suspected that he had a huge amount of unaccounted for cash and property which is disproportionate to the known sources of his income, we involved ACB officers from Bidar and Yadgir as well,” Mr. Meghannanavar told presspersons.
Mr. Biradar began his career as a Junior Engineer on a temporary basis in the Engineering Department of Kalaburagi Zilla Panchayat in 1992. He was taken as a regular employee in 2000 and he served at Aland in Kalaburagi district and Almel in Vijayapura district before being transferred to Jewargi in Kalaburagi district.
