BANGALORE: The Lokayukta Court on Saturday ordered an investigation into a private complaint filed against former Advocate General B V Acharya and four others, for alleged misappropriation of funds of BMS Education Trust, of which they are trustees.
Passing orders on the complaint, Lokayukta judge N K Sudhindra Rao directed the Lokayukta SP to probe the case and submit a report by May 23.
Apart from Acharya, the other accused in the case are the trust’s member appointed by the government H U Talwar, member secretary B S Ragini Narayan and members Dr P Dayananda Pai and former Karnataka additional chief secretary Vijay Gore.
In a complaint filed on January 25, N Venkateshaiah, a nonagenarian, had alleged that the accused had misappropriated trust funds and entered into a criminal conspiracy to misappropriate huge sums of money from donations under the management quota and substantial part of the fees collected under various categories.
The complaint accused Acharya of holding a dual role of chairman of the council of trustees and Advocate General, when a case related to succession of members to the Trust was being fought by the state in the Supreme Court. The complainant alleged that Acharya, as public servant, had not only committed criminal conspiracy, but was also involved in offences under Prevention of Corruption Act.
Acharya, who became the first Advocate General of Karnataka to be appointed for a record sixth time, resigned from his post on February 8, 2012 to continue as public prosecutor in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s disproportionate assets case.