Govt protecting Lokayukta to help ministers facing probe

Activist S R Hiremath said on Sunday that the government was reluctant to hand over the case of graft in the Lokayukta to the CBI as five ministers, including the chief minister, were facing investigation by the ombudsman.

Addressing a press conference in the city, he said, “There is a need to find the equation between the father-son duo of Bhaskar Rao and Ashwin on the one side and the ministers on the other,” Hiremath said.

There are provisions under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, to file a plaint with the CBI against the Lokayukta. But the government was playing safe by not doing so, he said.

A complaint pertaining to denotification of 500 acres in Arkavathy Layout against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is with the Lokayukta. There are also cases against Home Minister K J George, Power Minister D K Shivakumar and Law Minister T B Jayachandra with the Lokayukta.

 Hiremath’s Samaja Parivartana Samudaya and three others had filed a PIL in this regard in the High Court and it is likely to be heard soon. The PIL has urged the court that the investigation should be monitored by the court, he said. Documents, totalling 100 pages, had also been submitted, he said.