Mangaluru: The Chairman of the Karnataka State Bar Council P P Hegde held a press meet at his premises at Kodialguthu here on June 26.
Addressing the mediapersons P P Hegde said that, reports have been widely published in the media that officials in the office of the Lokayukta, Justice YBhaskar Rao is involved in demanding and accepting bribe. A certain person named Krishna Rao claiming to be the secretary of Justice Rao, Lokayukta is alleged to have called a public servant to the official residence of the Lokayuktaon April 21, which was a government holiday for Basava Jayanthi and demanded for Rs 1 crore. There is an allegation that Krishna Rao met the public servant on April 25, in a 5 star hotel and again put-forth the demand for Rs 1 crore. Earlier, several such allegations have come from the public servants/general public that officials in the office of the Lokayukta are themselves involved in corruption and extortion of money from public servants.
A month ago, Sonia Naran Kumar, Lokayukta Superintendent of Police of Lokayukta Bengaluru city has forwarded a written letter to the Lokayukta registrar as to how Krishna Rao demanded Rs 1 crore from Zilla Panchayat (Urban) Executive Engineer Krishnamurthy to wriggle out of a raid.
The general public are very much upset and shocked with these recent complaints against the officials of the Lokayukta. The Karnataka state bar council hereby strongly condemns the misconduct on the part of the office of the Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Rao. We demand that an immediate FIR be registered on the basis of the press reports under the provisions of the prevention of Corruption act.
Furthermore, we also demand that the persons involved directly or indirectly, in the commission of the offence under the provisions of prevention and corruption act, should be arrested and immediate investigation must be conducted by an independent agency. We demand that this serious incident of corruption must be handed over to CBI.
There is a serious allegation of corruption in the office of the Lokayukta, more particularly against Lokayukta Justice Rao, it is not proper for him to continue in office. We demand his immediate resignation to facilitate fair investigation into the allegations.
Since Lokayukta is a statutory body and entrusted with the task of controlling and punishing the corrupt, the Karanataka State Bar Council on behalf of the entire community of Advocates of Karnataka, hereby demands resignation by Justice Rao and that the matter be handed over to CBI by registering the FIR immediately. If the demands are not met, advocates throughout the state will join hands with the general public to protest against the corruption within the Lokayukta.