Raid on Yelahanka MLA’s houses yield 2.6 kg gold

December 20, 2011

vishwanath

Bangalore, December 20: The Lokayukta police conducted an early morning raid on the houses and office of Yelahanka MLA S?R Vishwanath on Monday.

The police had registered a case on December 16 after the Special Lokayukta Court directed them to investigate allegations of cheating and acquiring notified land by V Shashidhar through a private complaint in the Special Lokayukta Court. The Lokayukta police have been directed to file a report on January 6, 2012.

The raid, headed by Bangalore Urban Superintendent of Police P K Shivashankar and DySP Girish S, led to a haul of 2.6 kg of gold articles, Rs 14.5 lakh in cash, 11 kg of silver articles and currency of $3,500.

Immovable property

The raid, which began at 6 am, yielded documents pertaining to two apartments in Coffee Board Layout, four buildings in Rajanakunte and Bhuvaneshwari Nagar and agricultural land measuring 65 acres. All the documents pertaining to immovable properties have been seized.

Sources in the Lokayukta said the police raided the MLA’s house in Singanayakanahalli, his office in Yelahanka New Town and an apartment in Hebbal.

Currency and gold

Vishwanath and his wife Vanishree were both present in the house during the raid. Subsequent to the raid, the couple accompanied the police officers to a nearby bank, Raitha Seva Sahakara Bank, where Vanishree is the president and owns two lockers. Here, the police seized currency amounting to about Rs 14.5 lakh and gold weighing about 1.5 kg from the two lockers.

Vehicles

Vishwanath’s house in Singanayakanahalli also had household articles amounting to about Rs 40 lakh. Six vehicles - a Toyota Innova, Toyota Fortuner and four tractors - have also been seized.

Shashidhar, a social activist and former constable, had alleged that Vishwanath has cheated the government in several instances.

In the first instance, the complainant alleged that Vishwanath worked as employee of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) from 1985 to April, 2008.

Held two posts at a time

At the same time, he became a Zilla Panchayat member from Hesaraghatta constituency and completed his full term from 2000 to 2005, without even resigning his job at HAL. The complainant said Vishwanath continued to receive salary and other perks from both ZP and HAL.

Vishwanath is also accused of acquiring assets worth more than Rs 70 crore, even though his total salary during his tenure at HAL did not exceed Rs 20 lakh.

Land deal

Vishwanath is also supposed to have purchased two properties in survey Nos 3 and 38 at Sriramanahalli in Hesaraghatta hobli of Bangalore North taluk from GPA holder Sakamma. This land, according to the complaint, belonged to the Karnataka Housing Board and was notified by the government in 2009.

“Knowing well about the nature of the land and its notification, the MLA of the constituency went ahead ignoring all legal implications and got the property registered in his name for a far lesser price than the actual value. He has made the full payment in cash and got the khata transferred thereafter in his name. Around 1.38 acres out of 3.38 acres in survey number 38 was converted from agriculture to residential purpose on June 14, 2011,” the complaint states.

He is also accused of obtaining two residential sites at Kudlu in Anekal taluk where the HAL House Building Co-operative Society formed sites for the benefit of its members, once again violating the Society’s rules.

The other accused in the complaint are Vanishree, Deputy Commissioner of Bangalore Urban M?K Aiyappa, Yelahanka Special Additional Tahsildar Ranganath, Hesarghatta sub-registrar Ravi Kumar and Sakamma.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Hyderabad, Mar 28: Seven labourers from Karnataka were killed and four injured when the van in which they were travelling was hit by a truck near Pedda Golconda on the outskirts of the city late on Friday night, police said.

The deceased included two children. Of the 31 workers in the van, five died on the spot and two while undergoing treatment at a hospital, Assistant Commissioner of Traffic Vishwa Prasad said.
Four others were hospitalised and the condition of one of them is critical, he said, adding the other workers in the van escaped with minor injuries.

The workers were on their way back to their home town Raichur in Karnataka as the road project they were working in at Suryapet here was stalled due to the lockdown, Prasad said.

He said initital investigations revealed that the mango laden truck, which was on its way to Gujarat, was overspeeding.

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News Network
January 15,2020

New Delhi, Jan 15: The CBI has booked 17 individuals and companies, including three Mumbai-based senior Customs officials, for allegedly being part of a money laundering racket using over-invoiced import of diamonds worth more than Rs 156 crore, official said on Tuesday.

The case was referred to the CBI after a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence probe found alleged involvement of Customs officials in the conspiracy, they said.

The DRI probe had alleged that Hong Kong-based businessman Girish Kadel had imported rough diamonds from Switzerland to Hong Kong in the name of his four companies.

Kadel, who had business interests in India, had exported some of these diamonds to India through 14 consignments in the name of two companies Antique Exim Pvt Ltd and Tanman Jewels showing over-invoiced value of Rs 156.28 crore.

The DRI had found during revaluation that actual value of the consignment was Rs 1.03 crore instead of falsely declared value of Rs 156.28 crore, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that Kadel used Import Export Codes (IECs) of Antique Exim Private Ltd and Tanman Jewels through his aide Atul Paldecha for siphoning off the money outside India through import of over-valued diamonds, the officials said.

Rough diamonds were imported at "highly exaggerated value" to siphon off excess foreign exchange overseas to cover the differential cost of other imports and park money abroad for unlawful activities.

It is alleged that the then Commissioner APSC Mumbai, Vinay Brij Singh, influenced subordinate officers to give favourable report, they said.

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Agencies
April 11,2020

Hyderabad, Apr 11: With the Telangana government banning spitting in public places in the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic, a police case has been registered here against a man for violating the rule.

During vehicle-checking on Friday, police found the man spitting on the road here and registered a case against him for disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant, police said.

Spitting in public places and institutions has been banned in the state in view of the pandemic with the government saying such acts pose a serious threat of leading to spread of infections.

"In the interest of public health and safety, the spitting of paan/any chewable tobacco or non-tobacco product, sputum in public places & institutions is hereby BANNED with immediate effect," a gvernment notification said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the importance of hygiene and cleanliness in both personal as well as public spheres, the April 6 notification issued by the Health, Medical and Family Welfare department said.

"It is of utmost need to impose restrictions on unhealthy practices that may potentially lead to spread of such viruses and other infections," it said.

The habit of public spitting poses a serious threat of leading to spread of such infections, the notification added.

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