BENGALURU: A top policeman has sought a Lokayukta investigation into alleged irregularities at the police housing corporation during 2012-14.
Sushant Mahapatra, DGP and chairman, Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (KSPH&IDCL), has named M N Reddi, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner, and Praveen Sood, Additional Director-General of Police, Karnataka State Reserve Police, in his complaint. They were managing directors of the corporation. His complaint was filed on July 3. On Monday, Mahapatra provided additional information to the anti-corruption agency.
His letter states the top brass hid huge financial transactions from the Cabinet with the intention of “looting” the government. “This is going on since May-June 2012, even when M N Reddi and Praveen Sood were the MDs,” he has said.
The corporation allegedly allotted tenders for hundreds of crores in violation of government norms.
Mahapatra said the corporation had been turned into a “big house of corruption where... selected contractors are being favoured illegally and small contractors have been marginalised.”
After Shankar Bidari’s term as chairman, the complaint says, Reddi chaired a board meeting on March 31, 2012, and mooted the idea of approving packages amounting to about Rs 50 crore.
At a later meeting on May 5, 2012, the then director N G Jagannath had raised the question of Cabinet approval for transactions of that scale. Another senior officer, H C Kishore Chandra, had said projects above Rs 5 crore had to seek mandatory Cabinet approval, according to the complaint. The board did not approve of the Rs 50 crore tenders, but Reddi prevailed, Mahapatra has said.
The IPS officer says a “cartel-like situation... has given unlawful gain to various public servants”.
Speaking to Express, Mahapatra said, “The tender amount scales up to nearly Rs 2,000 crore awarded to big contractors. In some cases, the amounts paid exceeded the tender amounts by 35 to 65 per cent.”
He said he had asked in-charge managing director Seemanth Kumar Singh and other IPS officers about the irregularities, but had received no explanation.
Mahapatra’s letter says he fears a transfer out of the corporation for filing the complaint.
Upa Lokayukta Subash B Adi acknowledged the complaint had been filed, and said it would be investigated.
Denying the allegations, Police Commissioner M N Reddi said, “No norms were violated during my tenure. Everything has been brought to the notice of the members of the corporation.”
Sood was not available for comment. Calls and texts to his phone went unanswered.
Tainted Company?
Mahapatra said a tainted Indian-owned Australian firm had been given contracts to build houses for policemen. “It was involved in a chit fund scam probed by the CBI. But Reddi, then managing director, awarded tenders to it,” he alleged.