BENGALURU: The Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of the Byatarayanapura sub-division has filed a complaint against a former police inspector of Byatarayanapura station under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
ACP Bharath S Reddy, in his complaint filed with the Byatarayanapura police on Wednesday, has levelled serious allegations against Inspector Shankar Naik GK and his accomplice Loknath Singh, for investigating a case that occurred in Hoskote police station limits. Naik is accused of investigating the case with the sole intent of recovering Rs 75 lakh in cash that was stolen by a businessman’s driver.
“Santosh, the car driver of businessman Harish, had stolen Rs 75 lakh from the latter in Hoskote in 2022. Singh is accused of bringing the matter to the notice of Naik, who was serving as the inspector at Byatarayanapura station. Naik managed to recover Rs 72 lakh from Santosh and allegedly diverted it for personal use, rather than keeping it in the police station or depositing it in the government treasury,” an officer said.
“When the matter came to the notice of senior officers, Naik allegedly made Harish’s friend John forge the businessman’s signature in a fabricated complaint in order to make it look like a genuine case, on October 12, 2022. He had also completed the formalities of entering the details of the recovered money, which were all in Rs 500 denomination,” the officer added.
As per the complaint filed by the ACP, upon Naik’s transfer from Byatarayanapura station on January 27, 2023, he reportedly failed to hand over the seized amount and station charge to the newly posted inspector.
Naik was served repeated notices to either hand over the money to the new inspector or to deposit it in the state treasury. Naik finally brought Rs 72 lakh on February 26 to the police station with different denominations than the ones that were seized. Subsequently, the court ordered that the seized money be handed over to the Income Tax Department and a team of I-T officials approached the Byatarayanapura police on April 19 to take the money.
“The complaint has been filed due to the irregularities committed by Naik. Along with the Prevention of Corruption Act, the case has also been registered for causing the disappearance of evidence and giving false information (IPC 201), criminal breach of trust by a public servant (IPC 409), forgery (IPC 465), along with another section of the IPC,” the officer added.