Indian
Express: Bengaluru: Wednesday, 23 December 2015.
Former
Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao helped close a complaint against the Koramangala police
after they had shielded a well-connected real estate agent, it has now come to
light.
The agent,
identified as Eliyas, is the brother of suspended Lokayukta PRO Syed Riyaz, now
in jail.
Information
obtained by an activist under the Right to Information Act indicates that Rao
ordered the closure of the complaint against the police, who had allegedly
conducted themselves in a partisan manner in an assault case.
The Lokayukta
did not register the case formally, according to a letter from A C Vidhyadhar,
the then Assistant Registrar of Enquiries-I, Lokayukta, to Lokayukta Registrar
M S Balakrishna.
Balakrishna
had sought a clarification from Vidhyadhar in response to a complaint filed by
A K A Mujeed with Sonia Narang, Lokayukta Superintendent of Police. Mujeed has
also accused Syed Riyaz of misuse of office to save his brother.
Sources said
Vidhyadhar’s letter could serve as crucial evidence for the Special
Investigation Case to name Rao as an accused in the extortion case involving the
former Lokayukta’s son Y Ashwin, also behind bars.
The SIT has
already filed chargesheets before the Lokayukta Special Court.
A little
after the Karnataka Assembly initiated proceedings to remove Rao, he resigned,
reportedly under the advice of Governor Vajubhai Vala.
Vidhyadhar
informed the Registrar: “There is a lapse of one year from the date of the said
order. As I used to deal with various complaints, petitions and enquiry
matters, now I do not remember exactly where the concerned file is available. I
submit that I was not the custodian of the records.... I have only acted as per
the direction and order of Bhaskar Rao and I have discharged my duties in good
faith.
Rao’s
Initiative: Some petitions were handled
directly by Rao and as Assistant Registrar for Bengaluru, Vidyadhar was only
asked to sign such orders, the letter states. “In the present case, there is no
complaint given and registered,” Vidyadhar clarifies. He suspects the file may
be in Riyaz’s section.
In a letter
to Mujeed on September 20, 2014, Vidhyadhar had purportedly quoted Rao as
saying Mujeed’s petitions were “not maintainable and are of purely civil
nature.” The mail had said: “The allegations made against police officers has
arisen out of civil dispute and under Karnataka Lokayukta Act, we cannot
investigate ... those allegations. The allegations that the police have
arrested and sent to you to judicial custody are part of investigation....
However, you are at liberty to approach competent court of law.”
Registrar
Balakrishna said the file relating to the complaint could be in Riyaz’s office,
but that room has been sealed by the SIT. “We have to approach the SIT to open
the office to be able to proceed on Mujeed’s complaint,” he told Express.
High
Connections: A K A Mujeed, a resident of Koramangala, on December 8 complained
to the Lokayukta police against Syed Riyaz, suspended Lokayukta PRO, accusing
him of misusing his office to shield his brother Eliyas. Lokayukta official
Vidyadhar had closed the complaint and sent Mujeed a mail using the ID of
Riyaz’s orderly Pramod, says Mujeed’s complaint.
The story
goes back at least a year, and relates to an assault on Mujeed by real estate
agent A S Nagaraj. Nagaraj was keen that Mujeed sell his house in Koramangala
to Eliyas for Rs 1.1 crore. The assault was allegedly intended to force
Mujeed’s hand. Koramangala police, who did nothing about Mujeed’s complaint,
had arrested him and his maid on August 7, 2014, on the basis of a complaint by
one Radha Nagaraj. Mujeed had then filed a complaint with the Lokayukta against
the Koramangala police, besides Nagaraj, Eliyas and others on September 10,
2014.
Vidhyadhar
closed his complaint within 10 days. Pramod, has informed the SIT that Riyaz
instructed him to remove a page relating to Eliyas from the file. Efforts to
contact Justice Rao were in vain.
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