IPS officer linked to Karnataka Lokayukta extortion case seeks anticipatory bail as new corruption probe expands

Mahadev, who was moved out of the Karnataka Lokayukta police unit on June 12, filed the anticipatory bail plea in the wake of the arrest of a ‘dismissed’ police constable, Ningappa Savant alias Ningappa G, 45. Ningappa was arrested on June 2 on charges of extorting money from state government officials in various departments, including excise, transport, Bengaluru city, etc., by claiming that the Lokayukta police had identified them as targets for anti-corruption raids.

The sessions court adjourned the bail plea on Tuesday after the Lokayukta police sought two days to file their objections.

A former cop, extortion charges, and cryptocurrency investments

Ningappa, the main accused in the case, was allegedly a regular visitor to Mahadev’s chambers in the Bengaluru Lokayukta office. Ningappa is alleged to have extorted over ₹ 4.15 crore from dozens of government officials by claiming to be closely associated with police officers in the Karnataka Lokayukta police units. He is also alleged to have procured SIM cards and phones to create phone numbers and WhatsApp identities in the name of Lokayukta police officers. He allegedly showed officials these to prove his association with Lokayukta officials.

A former constable from Holalkere in the Chitradurga region, Ningappa, was dismissed from police service a few years ago after not reporting for duty. He is alleged to have parked the money he earned from the extortion activities in cryptocurrency, which the Lokayukta police have now seized and transferred to a police crypto wallet, police sources said.

“He has admitted that he has invested the money he extorted in cryptocurrency in his own name and that of his relatives. His mobile was checked, and it was found that he had invested the money in about 13 crypto wallets. To trace the source of the money, the said wallets have been frozen and the investigation is continuing,” the office of the Karnataka Lokayukta said in its first official statement on the extortion scam on Tuesday.

“The investigation is continuing into how much money was paid to the accused Ningappa and by which officials. Information about the involvement of other officers with the accused is being gathered by examining WhatsApp messages, call details, and WhatsApp call details,” the statement added.

The Lokayukta has claimed the existence of as many as 35 cases of extortion by persons claiming to be Lokayukta officers that have been filed around Karnataka in recent years.

IPS officer Joshi Mahadev’s alleged role in the racket

IPS officer Mahadev was allegedly in the know of Ningappa’s activities. Ningappa told investigators that a portion of the cryptocurrency in his possession was allegedly Mahadev’s share from the extortion racket.

“Mahadev was summoned once but has sought a later date for appearance by citing a function at his residence,” a police source said.

Mahadev moved for anticipatory bail even as the Karnataka High Court ordered a stay on the FIR in the extortion case on the basis of a quashing petition filed by Ningappa, which came up before it on Tuesday.

Ningappa’s wife, Chandrakala G K, has also filed a petition in the high court claiming that her husband was detained on May 31 but was officially shown as arrested only on June 2 after the registration of an FIR.

What the FIR and complaint in the extortion case say

According to the FIR, Ningappa posed as a Lokayukta official and called government officials over the phone to threaten them of anti-corruption raids by using the photographs and names of the Lokayukta (retired high court judge B S Patil), deputy Lokayukta and Lokayukta police officers that were saved in his WhatsApp contacts. He allegedly demanded money to prevent searches.

The case emerged after the Lokayukta police received multiple complaints of people using the identities of Lokayukta officials for extortion in recent months, according to the police complaint filed on June 2.

It has emerged that “fearing such calls, several government officials have delivered thousands and lakhs of rupees in cash/Phone Pay to callers posing as fake Lokayukta officials”, the police complaint has added.

“After some officials inquired about this on their own or through their acquaintances at the Lokayukta office, information was obtained that the real officials were not the ones who threatened them, and some officials have filed complaints with the relevant police stations about the loss of money,” the complaint further adds.

The Lokayukta police have found that Ningappa allegedly obtained information on government officials under the anti-corruption agency’s scanner from Lokayukta contacts and then targeted the officials.

In one instance of extortion, where a complaint was filed recently in the Tumkur region of Karnataka by an RTO officer, Ningappa allegedly made a WhatsApp call using the photo of Lokayukta Police SP, Bangalore City (2), K Vamshi Krishna as the display picture for the phone number, and allegedly demanded money.

In some other cases, Ningappa allegedly sent screenshots of his contact list with the saved names of Lokayukta officials to prove his credentials during the extortion activities.

Chequered past for anti-corruption efforts in Karnataka

The Karnataka Lokayukta police was reinstated as the primary anti-corruption agency in the state by an August 11, 2022, order of the Karnataka High Court that abolished the state-controlled Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). The ACB was abolished during the tenure of the BJP in Karnataka after the high court ruled that it had been ineffective in controlling corruption.

Previously, the Congress government in Karnataka had created the ACB in 2016 following allegations of corruption in the Karnataka Lokayukta establishment. The government had reduced the powers of the Lokayukta in 2016 by creating the ACB in the wake of the then Lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao, a former chief justice of Karnataka, and his son Ashwin Rao, being linked to an extortion racket.

A Karnataka Police Special Investigation Team that investigated the Lokayukta scam a decade ago had uncovered a modus operandi where allegedly corrupt state officials were targeted for extortion by middlemen—journalists, public relations officials, and others—linked to Lokayukta officials.