Several officials from civic agencies in the city were recently offered “protection from imminent Lokayukta raids” in return for a consideration by people claiming to be Lokayukta police officials.
This is after Lokayukta officials raided officials of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). Officials of the anti-corruption agency also raided the head office of the BDA here recently.
Complaint lodgedOn learning about the menace of impersonators, the Lokayukta police have lodged a complaint with the Ulsoor Gate police against “unidentified persons”.
Sources said the imposters had also approached officials who were raided by the Lokayukta police.
“A person claiming to be close to a senior Lokayukta police officer would approach officials soon after the raids and call up a number on his mobile phone. The man on the other side would claim to be the senior officer and offer help to hush up the case for a return,” a senior Lokayukta police official said.
In a recent case, a man approached an official in Karwar against whom the Lokayukta police had conducted a raid and duped him into crediting Rs. 2 lakh bribe into a bank account.
The impersonator had claimed that the money was donation towards temple construction. The police then found out that the account — maintained in a Bihar branch of the State Bank of India — was that of a Group D employee of the Hindalga prison in Belgaum. He was arrested two weeks ago.
Official speakAdditional Director-General of Police (Lokayukta) H.S. Satyanarayana Rao told The Hindu , “In spite of best efforts by the Lokayukta police officials, there has been no let-up in the instances of impersonators duping officials.” He said that such instances showed the culpability of the officials and their corrupt ways.
