People approaching the Lokayukta police to expose the corrupt seem to be increasingly facing threat to their lives.
In the last two weeks, four complainants have knocked the doors of Lokayukta Special Court seeking protection. Worse still, the police have been blamed for colluding with the accused in some cases.
“For every three days, one such case cannot come up before the court. The aggrieved needs to be protected,” Lokayukta Judge N K Sudhindra Rao said on Tuesday, while taking a serious note of the situation faced by the complainants.
C Lakshminarayana, one of the complainants who had exposed irregularities in BDA involving high profile IAS/KAS officers and politicians, brought to the notice of the court that a police officer who was one of the co-accused in the case had booked false cases against him and included his name in the rowdy sheet.
“It is unfortunate that the even the police are vicitimising a person for exposing the corrupt. This has become a serious concern for the complainants. The court has to look into the matter,” Lakshminarayana’s counsel said.
Meanwhile, Channegowda, owner a small hotel in Kalasipalyam, who had a filed corruption case against Sudhamanagar Corporator Kumari Avvai, who was sent to jail last week, was allegedly threatened in the presence of the Lokayukta police.
In another case, Honnanjappa, who filed a case against former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday, told the court that he was threatened at gun-point.
He feared that documents were not safe with him and handed them to be kept in the court.
This apart, Lokayukta Superintendent of Police P K Shivashankar was transferred for leaking information about a complaint.
It may be recalled that RTI activist Lingaraju, who had complained to the Lokayukta police against Azadnagar Corporator Gowramma was murdered last month. Later, the corporator and her husband were arrested in connection with the murder.
Meanwhile, the much anticipated Whistle-Blowers Protection Bill is yet to get cleared by Rajya Sabha.
The Lok Sabha has cleared it last year.