BENGALURU: THE Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department has started the process of recovering movable and immovable properties of its official who was involved in the ‘fake bank accounts’ scam of 2015.
In the biggest scam in the the department an official of the Under-Secretary rank was found to have created 109 fake bank accounts in various banks and transferred over `2,800 crore of department funds.
Now, the department has started the process of recovering the propertes of the official, Ramakrishna.
Based on complaints, RDPR Minister H K Patil had ordered a departmental inquiry which proved the official’s role in the scam. It was also found that Ramakrishna had bought over 20 sites in the city in his wife’s name.
Ramakrishna had served for 26 years in different cadres and is presently serving as planning officer in Bidar Zilla Panchayat. Though he was suspended after the inquiry, he secured a stay from the court taking advantage of the department’s delay in filing FIR.
“Recently, we received another complaint against Ramakrishna about his illegal properties worth several crores at Magadi taluk. Following this, we conducted an inquiry and also got a report from the revenue officers of the taluk. We were shocked to see the the number of properties in his and his wife’s name,” a senior department official told Express.
The report was forwarded to the RDPR Minister, who directed the department to start the recovery process as the assets were disproportionate to his known sources of income.
“We have started the process and appointed a nodal officer for this purpose,” an official confirmed.