IANS/Bengaluru
The Karnataka government is setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe corruption charges against some officials of the state Lokayukta made by state bureaucrats and RTI (right to information) activists.
“Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has agreed to set up an SIT to probe the corruption charges, including that bribes were demanded from senior state bureaucrats by a few unidentified officials working in the Lokayukta in collusion with middlemen,” state Home Minister K J George told reporters at Belagavi, about 510km from here.
All ministers and lawmakers are camping in the state’s northern city of Belagavi to attend the 10-day monsoon session of the state legislature since Monday.
“The SIT will be headed by an officer of the rank of additional director general of police under the Karnataka Lokayukta Act,” George said.
Director General of Police Om Prakash will name the SIT head.
The SIT is being set up on the request of Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao after City Crime Branch (CCB) Joint Commissioner M Chandra Shekar declined to inquire into the charges, as his father-in-law was facing an inquiry by the anti-graft body in a corruption case.
Though Upa Lokayukta Justice Subash B Adi directed Superintendent of Police Sonia Narang to continue with the internal probe into the bribe charge, Rao ordered a separate probe by the CCB last week and by an independent agency on Monday.
Reporters try to speak to Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao outside his office in Bengaluru yesterday.
