BENGALURU: The police team investigating the extortion scandal at the Lokayukta has been able to establish how its key players worked in tandem, a source said.
Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao’s son Ashwin Y, PRO Syed Riyaz and others named in the FIR were constantly in touch, call records and tower co-ordinates have purportedly revealed.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the scandal informed the Lokayukta Special Court about the progress in the case on Monday, after filing objections to the bail petitions of Ashwin, Ashok Kumar, M B Srinivasa Gowda, Shankare Gowda and Riyaz, all of whom are in custody.
Ashok Kumar allegedly used a mobile to call M N Krishna Murthy, executive engineer at the Bengaluru Urban zilla panchayat, on May 4 at the behest of Riyaz.
Ashwin, Kumar, Srinivasa Gowda, Shankare Gowda and Riyaz were in constant touch before this case of attempted extortion, and continued even after Krishna Murthy had filed a complaint.
The mobile phone and SIM card used to summon Murthy were allegedly destroyed by Kumar and Shankare Gowda respectively.
They are said to have done so on Riyaz’s directions after Krishna Murthy lodged a complaint with Lokayukta Superintendent of Police Sonia Narang.
An SIT team now in Hyderabad with a search warrant claims it had found incriminating evidence at Ashwin’s house. The team is likely to return to Bengaluru on Tuesday.
Touts Ashok Kumar and V Bhaskar allegedly took P B Channabasappa, another complainant, to Hyderabad in a Mercedes Benz, where they met Ashwin.
Call records and tower co-ordinates show that all four were together that day, sources said. The sleuths also said they had found half-a-dozen mobile handsets at Ashok Kumar’s house, and some recordings of conversations between him and Riyaz. They have collected their voice samples.
The team also holds Riyaz responsible for allowing the gang to use the conference hall on the second floor of the Lokayukta office. Riyaz was the custodian of the hall and no deals could have been cut without his knowledge, the sleuths contend.
During the house raids, documents linking Ashwin and V Bhaskar were purportedly found. In Shankare Gowda’s house, the SIT found a diary with the contact numbers of several engineers. In Srinivasa Gowda’s residence, they found some RTI applications, sources said.