Karnataka

Chitradurga: Lokayukta police raid DDPI’s houses

Chitradurga: The Lokayukta police on Wednesday raided the houses of Deputy Director of Public Instruction L. Rangappa and found the official in possession of property worth over Rs. 91.35 lakh and other valuables disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Superintendent of Police (Lokayukta) S.B. Bisnalli said the operation, which started early in the morning, was performed by five teams of officials.

While four teams searched the houses and property at Hosadurga taluk, one team investigated his assets in Chitradurga city.

During the investigation, the police officials found that Mr. Rangappa owned three sites measuring 30 x 50 ft and four houses in Chitradurga city, of which two had been rented out.

An 18-acre farm at Kenkere village of Hosadurga taluk, one Mahindra Scorpio, an Ambassador car and four two-wheelers were found to be in his possession.

Mr. Bisnalli said the police officials recovered 134 grams of gold and nearly four kg of silver, besides Rs. 60,000 in cash.

About savings in various banks, he said Mr. Rangappa had paid Rs. 6 lakh as premiums to LIC and had Kisan Vikas Patra worth Rs. 5 lakh.

Mr. Bisnalli said Mr. Rangappa also built four high schools and four primary schools in Hosadurga which were registered under the Sri Gaviranganathaswamy Sahakari Vidya Samsthe. However, he said the documents were under scrutiny. He said that since the investigations were still on, the exact amount of assets and bank accounts would be ascertained later.

To a question, Mr. Bisnalli said that Mr. Rangappa was not in the city during the search. He was reportedly in Bangalore on an official visit.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu