BENGALURU: Witnesses in the in-house corruption in Karnataka Lokayukta office, which rocked the state in 2015, have made startling revelations before a court. The staff, who worked in Lokayukta’s office and residence, have testified that they used to collect “packets and bags” as per instructions from the accused Ashwin Yarabati alias Ashwin Rao, son of tainted former Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao, and Syed Riyaz, who worked as Lokayukta PRO.
The trial in the case is in the stage of collecting evidence. Pramod A P, a CAR head constable who worked in accused PRO Riyaz’s office, deposed that Ashwin Rao, another accused V Bhasker alias ‘420 Bhaskar’ and Ashok Kumar visited the Lokayukta office, and the 4, including Riyaz, met in the conference hall, which was under Riyaz’s control and called government officials to the office. He also said he was asked to collect money and letters from various persons. He said Riyaz and Nagaraj, who was the PA of the then revenue minister, were very close.
‘Rao asked me to go on leave, switch off phone’
“On two occasions, Riyaz asked me to go and meet Nagaraj and said his driver would hand over Rs 1 lakh. Accordingly, I went and collected a packet from Nagaraj’s driver outside the gate of the Lokayukta office and gave it to Riyaz. On another occasion, I collected a packet from the driver at the MS building and gave it to Riyaz”, Pramod testified.
Pramod also said that he collected a letter from a person at Siddaiah Circle and gave it to Riyaz, who was at a hotel with Ashwin Rao, Nagaraj and another person. Pramod said that Riyaz asked him to collect a letter from the then BDA commissioner Shyam Bhatt and he (Pramod) waited for Bhat at his office who was in a meeting. However, Bhat told him that the letter was not ready and he would inform his officer as soon as it was ready.
The accused persons allegedly used the mobile phones of Pramod, who had two phones, to make calls. “Sometimes, Riyaz used my mobile number and also asked whether I was having another mobile number. As I said yes, he took the phone and spoke to Ashwin, Bhasker and Ashok Kumar,” Pramod deposed, adding that on one occasion Justice Rao spoke to his son Ashwin through the same phone.
Another witness, Sandeep Kumar, who worked as a cook in Lokayukta’s residence, deposed that he was asked by Lokayukta Rao to go on leave for 15 days and switch off his mobile phone after the news of the fraud in the institution broke out. When he returned, he was asked to resign.
“Bhaskar used to come to Lokayukta’s residence along with Ashwin. They used to talk in the office (at the residence) and outside the residence. Bhaskar used to sit on the chair of the Lokayukta. They also used to talk to other visitors who used to come. I used to receive the bag as per their instructions. Some other person used to come and hand over the bag outside the residence and I used to receive the same and keep it in the room as suggested by Ashwin,” Kumar testified.
Meanwhile, Ninganagouda B Hosamani, a contractor who was looking to get contract works, has said that he was taken to a hotel in Hyderabad to meet Ashwin. There, the accused Bhaskar and another person Shivayogi Hiremutt informed that Ashwin was the grandson of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao.