Karnataka Lokayukta Bhaskar Rao’s son held in ‘extortion’ racket

“On Monday morning, we picked up Ashwin from his residence,”a senior SIT official said. An advocate for Ashwin, who moved an anticipatory bail plea in a special Lokayukta court after his client was detained, was informed in court by the SIT investigating officer Labhu Ram about the arrest.

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Ashwin is prime accused in an extortion case filed by a government executive engineer, M N Krishnamurthy, who has alleged that Ashwin demanded a Rs 1 crore bribe from him to prevent initiation of corruption proceedings against him.

The SIT, however, informed the special court Monday that Ashwin had not been arrested in connection with Krishnamurthy’s complaint, but in a fresh extortion complaint against him by P B Channabasappa, a government executive engineer involved with the Upper Tunga irrigation project in Haveri district.

“It is not clear how the arrest could have happened in the second FIR because the SIT was in Hyderabad early on Monday and the second FIR was filed around 10.30 am. The anticipatory bail plea in the Krishnamurthy case is still valid if the arrest is in the second case. The SIT has been asked to file objections to the anticipatory bail plea,” Ashwin’s advocate Sandeep Patil said.

SIT sources indicated that Ashwin would be placed under arrest in the Krishnamurthy case as well after he is brought to Bengaluru Tuesday.

The SIT has so far arrested five people in connection with the case.

The alleged racket had multiple layers, with one group filing RTIs to identify allegedly corrupt persons as targets, a second group calling up officials and summoning them to the Lokayukta offices, and a third group allegedly demanding money to prevent initiation of cases against them.

On Sunday, the SIT had arrested the public relations officer in the Lokayukta, Syed Riyazatullah, a police officer of the rank of joint commissioner, on charges of extortion and cheating.

Riyazatullah was produced in court Monday and remanded in SIT custody till August 5. The court overruled his bail plea, saying there was need for effective investigation in the case.