Karnataka lokayukta is facing one of the worst crisis ever in its history over corruption charges. lokayukta Bhaskar Rao whose son’s name has been dragged into corruption charges has ruled out quitting his office. The dramatic turn of events for the past few days and alleged corruption charges have dented the image of the institution with public anger mounting against justice Bhaskar Rao to quit.
The institution was rocked by the alleged scandal recently after Superintendent of Police Sonia Narang blew the lid off with a letter to its Registrar about the complaint she received from a person who alleged that someone from the lokayukta office demanded `1 crore in bribe to avoid a raid. Rao also stalled an internal probe into the matter by Upa lokayukta Subash B Adi which became one more controversy.
Amid allegations that one of its officials had demanded `1 crore bribe from an official as part of an extortion racket within the lokayukta office, Rao had transferred all the cases to the Central Crime Branch. But the CCB was not inclined to take up the probe with Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) and CCB head M Chandra Shekar requesting lokayukta to reconsider its request.
Former lokayukta Santosh Hegde, during whose tenure from 2006 to 2011 the institution had earned the distinction of being very robust, had described the alleged scandal as the “worst thing” that could happen to the ombudsman and said that “in all fairness”, Rao should quit till the probe is over.
However in the eye of a storm over charges of corruption in his office with his son’s name also dragged into it, Karnataka lokayukta Bhaskar Rao ruled out his resignation, even as the Government ordered a SIT probe into the alleged bribery scandal. As pressure mounted for his exit, Rao said Government has ordered the constitution of a Special Investigation Team into alleged corruption by some lokayukta officials and rejected calls for his resignation.
Meanwhile, Karnataka State Bar Council Chairman PP Hegde said that advocates would hold a demonstration outside lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao’s office in Bengaluru on Wednesday if Justice Rao does not resign by Tuesday evening following alleged corruption scandal in his office.
The Bar Council had passed a unanimous resolution on Monday demanding resignation of the lokayukta. Meanwhile, about 200 lawyers, volunteers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and RTI activists staged a protest at the lokayukta office in Bengaluru, seeking Rao’s resignation till the probe into the graft charges was completed.