BENGALURU: Coffee plantations running into almost 140 acres, Rs 7 lakh in new currency, several benami buildings and plots, and two bank lockers whose contents are yet to be known.
These are just some of the assets owned by a BBMP chief engineer, whose properties were raided by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday. In simultaneous raids on seven government officials across six districts, the agency unearthed crores of rupees allegedly owned by the officials disproportionate to their known sources of income.
But the properties owned by chief engineer K T Nagaraju, central project, BBMP, were the biggest haul. The officials who conducted raids at Nagaraju’s office and residence in Jayanagar 3rd Block said he owned 139 acres of coffee plantations, all in the names of his wife, brother and friend in Hassan district. He also owned benami properties in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Ramanagara and Hassan districts.
ACB conducted simultaneous raids at the offices and residences of the officials and of their relatives in Bengaluru, Hubballi, Bidar, Chitradurga, Belagavi, and Gadag districts on Tuesday morning.
The raid at the Jayanagar 4th T block residence of P D Kumar, executive engineer, BDA, found assets disproportionate to his income. Kumar was found to own two houses in Bengaluru and Davanagere. He also owned commercial complexes in J P Nagar and Harapanahalli. Cash amounting to `2 lakh was found in his residence, sources said.
An official said that the details of the properties belonging to the seven officials are not final as the search is still on and the total assets may go up further.
Some of the assets were even beyond the ACB officials’ comprehension. Kariyappa Ningappa Karnal, an assistant tax commissioner from Hubballi, had apart from land, gold and vehicles, 7,000 saris worth R 1.5 crore. The officials took over five hours just to count the saris!