Santosh Hegde gets High Court notice
BANGALORE: The High Court on Wednesday ordered notice to former Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde in connection with a defamation case filed by IPS officer and Superintendent of Police (Intelligence) Hemanth Nimbalkar.
Nimbalkar filed the defamation case in the High Court, stating that Lokayukta officials had conducted raids on his office and residences in March 2009, when he was SP of Belgaum district. Hegde had announced to the public that he was possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income in the form of benami (alibi) land deals in Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The petitioner added that Hegde had defended the raid on the basis that he possessed disproportionate assets valued at about Rs 250 crore. “Even after two years, the Lokayukta has failed to register any case against me, nor has it provided any evidence of me amassing wealth illegally. My public image has been tarnished and my reputation is at stake,” he said. He also contended that till the time of his filing the petition, Lokayukta officials were unable to provide any evidence of the same.
Constitute Task Force, HC to State
The High Court on Wednesday has directed the Union and state governments to constitute a special task force within 10 days for mitigating the man-elephant conflicts in the state.
Hearing a suo motu petition over the issue, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna issued the order.
The CJ sought to know the status of a submission of the state on the state, following which the bench directed the Union and state governments to constitute the task force and adjourned the case till January 13.