Special court wants proper probe against former minister Puttaranga Shetty

The minister and contractors were allegedly involved in the seizure of Rs 25.76 lakh from Shetty’s personal assistant in Vidhana Soudha in January 2019.
Puttaranga Shetty
Puttaranga ShettyPhoto | Express
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BENGALURU: Taking serious exception to the chargesheet submitted by Lokayukta police with an incomplete investigation into allegations against C Puttaranga Shetty, former backward classes minister in the JDS-Congress coalition government, the special Lokayukta court directed police to conduct further investigation and submit the report within three months.

The minister and contractors were allegedly involved in the seizure of Rs 25.76 lakh from Shetty’s personal assistant in Vidhana Soudha in January 2019.

Judge KM Radhakrishna passed the order on Friday, while refusing to discharge SJ Mohan Kumar, Shetty’s personal assistant on a contract basis, from the case registered by Vidhana Soudha police under the Prevention of Corruption Act, which was later handed to the then Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). Kumar was found with a bag containing cash in Vidhana Soudha.

A case was registered against Mohan Kumar, Anantha Shankar, Srinidhi, Nandana, Manjunatha, and Krishnamurthy. As the ACB was abolished, the case was transferred to the Bengaluru division of Lokayukta police. They filed a chargesheet only against Mohan Kumar and dropped five other accused, stating that no evidence had been found. Shetty was treated as a witness.

The chargesheet stated that the Rs 25.76 lakh found on Mohan Kumar on January 3 and 4, 2019, was illegal gratification from different contractors through the five accused who were dropped from the case. It was to be paid to the minister to influence him for official favours to secure grants for civil works.

The public prosecutor contended that the materials placed before the court indicate sufficient material to proceed not only against the petitioner but also against those dropped from the chargesheet. Therefore, the petition should be rejected.

Referring to statements by Nandana (A4) and Manjunatha (A5) recorded before the magistrate under Section 164 CrPC, the court said the record revealed that contractors Jyothi Prakash and Satish paid Rs 9 lakh, Raju and Umesh paid Rs 7 lakh, Yogesh Babu paid Rs 2 lakh, and another contractor paid Rs 3.5 lakh through these accused to Mohan Kumar. This shows that the petitioner, who had himself obtained the amount, informed that the minister expected a 6 per cent commission to sanction grants, the court said.

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