Karnataka ACB conducts raids on nine officers' premises across state

Bengaluru, July 15 Karnataka's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday launched raids on the houses and premises of nine government officers, who allegedly acquired assets illegally, across the state.

A team of about 300 ACB officials launched a simultaneous raid at 40 different places at Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Udupi, Malur, Bidar, Mandya, Vijayapura, and Ballari.

According to ACB sources, a team of officials raided the residence of Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (KRIDCL) Executive Engineer Krishna S. Hebsur at Doddanagude, Udupi, around 6 a.m.

ACB sleuths also raided the residence and office of Assistant Director, Urban Planning, H.R. Krishnappa at Malur, and were scrutinising the documents which were found.

Electrical inspector Vijay Kumar's house was raided by the officials and vital documents confiscated. It is said that several complaints were registered against Vijay Kumar in this regard.

ACB officials raided the house of Executive Engineer, Urban Development Unit, G. Sridhar, in Mangaluru, and intense inquiry is in progress.

Other officials whose houses were raided include KRIDCL's Bengaluru Chief Engineer, R.B. Kulakarni, Rural Development Junior Engineer (Bidar) Suresh Mohare, Social Forestry Department's Mandya TDCF Venkatesh, BESCOM Vijayanagar AEE Mallikarjun, and Senior Motor Vehicles Inspector Krishnamurthy.

The ACB claimed that they have recovered a huge cache of incriminating documents of properties and a huge quantity of gold ornaments and silver articles besides several cars and two-wheelers.

"We are in the process of documenting and assessing the actual values of seized properties. We are still in the process of freezing some of their accounts as well. We are also yet open their bank lockers as well," a top ACB officer told reporters.

The ACB has registered a case and investigations are still on.