Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday announced a CBI probe into the single digit lottery scam which had put the Congress Government in a spot. The Chief Minister, who was under pressure from major Opposition parties, both BJP and JD(S) on Tuesday ordered the probe into scam in which several top officials and politicians are doubted to be involved.
Siddaramaiah said, “Though it is not a fit case for the CBI to enquire, we have decided to hand it over to the Central investigative agency as the public should not be misled by the Opposition’s allegations that we are shielding the accused.” “We need to know the entire truth about the scam. We need to know who all have been involved in this scam since 2007 and hence we have decided to hand over the probe to the CBI, there is no question of shielding anyone who is involved,” he added.
However, Chief Minister said there was no political pressure to handover the probe to CBI. He said “ we have decided to handover the probe to CBI to dispel the confusion among people. There is no political pressure.” Hitting out at the Opposition for casting aspersions on the Government, Siddaramaiah said, “We are legally, morally within the bounds of law...within the bounds of moral values.”