Karnataka: Lokayukta police raid mining baron, ‘tainted’ officials

Lokayukta officials said they have registered FIRs under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

THE LOKAYUKTA police on Tuesday conducted simultaneous raids on many premises belonging to seven “tainted” government officials and former tourism minister and BJP leader G Janardhana Reddy across the state. The raids were conducted in eight districts, including in Bengaluru, Bidar, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Kolar, Mysuru, Raichur and Tumkur districts.

Illegal assets worth over Rs 8 crore were reportedly recovered from the officials.

“Searches are still going on with regard to Reddy and details will be given later,” said a Lokayukta police official. More than 50 officials conducted the raids on Reddy’s residence in Bellary district and his Bengaluru residence.

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Reddy is facing 13 criminal cases related to illegal iron ore mining. He was arrested on September 5, 2011 and released on January 21, 2015 after being granted bail. On November 20, he was again arrested by the Lokayukta SIT in a fresh illegal mining case, but was released a few days later.

The “tainted” officials have been identified as Rajashekar Bramhapure, a junior engineer with rural drinking water and sanitation sub-division in Bidar; Hanumanth Madivalappa Sarawad, a junior engineer with rural drinking water and sanitation sub-division in Vijayapura; Subbarao Subedar, PA to president of Kaburgi Development Authority; B K Prasanna Kumar, an assistant engineer with Panchayat Raj engineering, sub-division Bangarpet in Kolar district; H S Varadarajan, deputy director with Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services in Bengaluru; Abdul Rashid, an assistant executive engineer with Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd in Raichur; and Venkatesh, an administrative officer with Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd in Bengaluru.

Lokayukta officials said they have registered FIRs under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

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