BENGALURU: The Lokayukta Special Court has rejected the discharge applications filed by four officials of Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals and the Karnataka Veterinary,Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, in relation to a case registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The accused officials are Dr C Renuka Prasad, the then Director, Dr M H Nagesh and Ibrahim Shariff, the then Accounts Officer and Dr R N Srinivas Gowda, the then Vice-Chancellor, Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Bidar.
Lokayukta Special Court Judge RN Sachin Kaushik rejected their applications seeking to discharge them from the case. Earlier, they claimed that they had not committed any offence and that there was no violation of law in investing Rs 1.33 crore in mutual funds with Unit Trust of India and hence they cannot be found to have caused a loss of Rs 84.31 lakh.
Investment in mutual funds resulted in loss
The Lokayukta court said that a strong prima facie case is made out against the accused by the prosecution. They deposited Rs 1.33 crore on January 14, 2007 and received back only Rs 1.03 crore, which is less than the amount invested, on January 14, 2013, plus dividend of Rs 11.52 lakh. The deficiency in principal amount was Rs 18.36 lakh.
“Had this amount been kept in nationalised bank for a period of five years, they would have got interest of Rs 65.94 lakh. Therefore, the total loss they caused is Rs 84.31 lakh. The sanction order passed to prosecute them is also legal. Hence, this court finds that there is a strong prima facie case against accused. Therefore, the discharge applications are rejected,” the Lokayukta court said.