The Karnataka High Court has granted bail to former Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao’s son, Ashwin Rao, and 10 others in the Lokayukta extortion scam.
Among the others granted bail on Monday by a High Court Bench headed by Justice Ratnakala were former Lokayukta PRO, Riyaz, and Bhaskar, a close aide of Ashwin Rao.
The scam came to light in May 2015, when the then Lokayukta SP, Sonia Narang, wrote to the Registrar about a complaint she received from an executive engineer, alleging that someone in the Lokayukta had demanded a bribe to avoid a raid.
A Special Investigation Team of the Karnataka Police arrested Ashwin Rao from near Kukatpally near Hyderabad in July 2015.
Among those arrested is also a journalist MB Sreenivas Gowda.
The gang used an elaborate setup in which they obtained information about complaints and irregularities against officials through the Lokayukta. RTIs would then be filed against such officials. The gang would purchase a number of SIM cards, using which they would call these officials and demand a bribe, failing which the latter would be raided.
Despite widespread protests and censure, Bhaskar Rao refused to resign from his post until the state Assembly moved a motion against him. Bhaskar Rao resigned in December 2015, four months after his son was arrested.
In August 2015, the police filed a chargesheet, naming Ashwin Rao as the prime accused and his father as the seventh accused. Charges against the accused were filed under Section 8 (taking gratification, in order, by corrupt or other means, to influence public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and Sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 119 (public servant concealing design to commit offence which it is his duty to prevent), 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and 419 (punishment for cheating by personation).