56 lakh, 400-gram gold seized in ACB raids on seven officials

Bengaluru: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday conducted raids at seven government officials' residences in 30 locations including Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka for alleged corruption. The raids which continued till noon led to seizure of Rs 56.5 lakh in cash and 400 gm of gold from the residence of an executive engineer in Dharwad.

According to the senior official from ACB, cases of disproportionate assets were registered in Bengaluru, Ballari, Kolar, Dharwad, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga and Kalaburagi against the seven government officials and subsequently the searches were carried out under the supervision of superintendents of police.

According to reports, the officials whose houses were raided were Pandurang Garag, (Joint Registrar of Cooperatives), Dr SN Vijaykumar (District Health Officer, Kolar), Dr Srinivas (Head of Department, Pharmacology, KIMS Koppal), Jayaraj KV (Joint Director Town Planning, Mangalore Mahanagara Palike), Channabasappa Avati (Junior Engineer, Public Works Department, Magadi Subdivision), Devraj Kallesh (Executive Engineer, Minor Irrigation Department in Shiggavi,Dharwad) and Srinivas (Assistant Conservator of Forests, Dharwad).

An ACB official said that one of the officials had invested hugely in flats in Kalaburagi and owned 23 acres of land, which he had purchased recently.

These raids by the ACB came after high profile raids were conducted in Bengaluru and other nearby areas in November 2020 against Karnataka Administrative Service officer B Sudha. The ACB had then seized Rs 10 lakh in cash and an SUV.

Sudha who is now administrator of the Information Technology and Biotechnology Department was previously posted as the Special Land Acquisition Officer in the Bangalore Development Authority.