The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash a corruption and extortion case against a dismissed police constable, Ningappa Savant, 41, accused of conspiring with a police officer of the state anti-corruption police unit to target government officials for extortion, after finding prima facie material in the case to allow investigations. The Single Judge Bench of the Karnataka HC, which had on June 17 stayed the probe by the state Lokayukta police against Savant, a former police constable, in a First Information Report (FIR) registered on June 2, refused to quash the case in an order on September 22. The alleged extortion activities of Ningappa Savant emerged in May after the Tumkur Regional Transport Officer lodged a police complaint stating that he had received a call from an unidentified number by a caller claiming to be a Superintendent of Police of the Lok Ayukta's Bengaluru city unit, demanding money to prevent a raid on the RTO. "A perusal of the complaint and report is sufficient to come to the sole and unmistakable conclusion that prima facie necessary ingredients constituting offences punishable under Section 7A of the P.C.Act have been prima facie made out and disclosed as against the petitioner against whom, grave and serious allegations of corruption have been made by the respondent," the Karnataka HC observed in its order. The court stated that, prima facie, the matter needs to be probed by an investigation officer and that the court cannot interfere with the investigation at this premature stage. The HC has observed that it was found during the preliminary probe that many government officers received phone calls of the likelihood of a raid or trap or other proceedings by the Lokayukta police, and "in order to avoid the same, bribe amount was demanded again and again." The HC observed that "several government officers have fallen prey to the said telephone calls from phony Lokayukta officers and have paid cash/electronic funds transfer in thousands/lakhs of rupees through cash or through PhonePe and that upon enquiries of the Lokayukta office, the said officers came to know that there was no such demand from any of the officers in the Lokayukta." The probe in the case by the Lokayukta police, who were informed of the extortion threat, led to the arrest of Ningappa Savant, who was identified as the alleged person who called the Tumkur RTO in the guise of a Lokayukta police officer. The Lokayukta police, who seized a mobile phone from Savant, retrieved data from the phone through the technical services of the state CID and found that the dismissed police constable was closely associated with Srinath Joshi Mahadev, an SP rank IPS officer who was with the Lokayukta police at the time, through multiple messages and calls. Savant, who was arrested on June 2, was granted bail by the HC on June 19. On June 18, the HC had also stayed a summons issued by the Lokayukta police for questioning IPS officer Srinath Joshi Mahadev about his association with Savant. The Lokayukta, in a statement on July 2, said that "Joshi was in touch with Ningappa and was involved in threatening government officials to extort money. They used the code word 'kg' (for money), the preliminary probe has revealed. The money was converted by investing in cryptocurrency". "He has admitted that he has invested the money recovered 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," the Lokayukta said in June. The former police constable is alleged to have been holding over ₹4.15 crore in cryptocurrencies when he was arrested in June.
