A senior Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) official and three co-staffers, along with others, were arrested by the Bengaluru police on Friday in an alleged corruption case. The arrests came after the police received a tip from within the BDA hierarchy. The prime accused has been identified as Shive Gowda, who was posted as Deputy Secretary-III. The other staff who were arrested are Sarath Kumar, Sampath Kumar and Pavithramma.
Shive Gowda, along with the co-accused, were arrested for running a parallel office in the name of the BDA, and illegally allotting sites to people without following due process. This parallel office was being run by the accused from a prominent building in Bengaluru’s Central Business District area. BDA Commissioner Mahadev R (IAS) confirmed to TNM that Shive Gowda and the others were arrested by the Seshadripuram police. The arrests were preceded by raids on the office by the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force. The accused have been booked under sections 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. However, the BDA Commissioner refused to share the extent of the money the accused are suspected to have made through the scam.
The scam was allegedly unearthed by a whistle-blower, who is said to have given all the details about the scam to the BDA Commissioner in a pen drive.
Earlier this week, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested two Bengaluru-based staff of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board for allegedly accepting bribes for clearing an industrial effluent plant. The arrest was made on November 30, after the duo was caught red-handed with Rs 25,000 that the complainant had given them. The ACB said that they were approached by the complainant after Rs 50,000 was demanded for official routine work by the accused.
A month ago, a KAS officer Dr Sudha was raided by the ACB for making alleged illegal gains during her posting in the BDA. During the raids, the ACB had seized a huge quantity of cash and gold from her.