Karnataka Lokayukta police have identified illegal assets worth ₹23.24 crore in simultaneous searches involving eight serving and retired state government officials across 33 locations in Bengaluru, Bengaluru South, Mandya, Kalaburagi, Kodagu, Dharwad, Chikkaballapur and Bidar.
The searches were conducted in disproportionate-assets cases involving officials from several departments. According to a Lokayukta statement reported by Prajavani, properties and other assets worth ₹29.61 crore were found in the homes of the officials and their relatives. Of this amount, assets worth ₹6.37 crore were assessed as legitimate, while the remaining ₹23.24 crore was identified as illegal assets.
The largest amount was linked to Sridevi, the district registrar working in Basavanagudi, Bengaluru. Searches at her residence and the homes of people close to her reportedly found illegal assets worth ₹6.80 crore. The Lokayukta said assets held in the names of her family members included two bungalows, two sites and agricultural land valued at ₹2.50 crore. A readymade garment factory valued at ₹2.30 crore was also identified.
The searches also covered Shivraju M., superintendent of a Backward Classes hostel in Mandya, whose illegal assets were valued at ₹2.71 crore; Rajeshwari Babalad, an assistant executive engineer with the MRT LDC division of JESCОM in Kalaburagi, with assets worth ₹1.91 crore; and H.R. Ramesh, commissioner of a municipal council in Kodagu, with assets worth ₹1.78 crore.
Kiran Kumar Baindur, an assistant executive engineer with HESCOM in the Dharwad area, was linked to illegal assets valued at ₹1.79 crore. The searches also identified assets worth ₹1.86 crore belonging to Darshan Gowda G., a first-division assistant at the Chikkaballapur deputy commissioner’s office, and ₹2.51 crore belonging to retired agriculture officer Manik Rao in Bidar.
A separate search involving H.M. Ranganath, who retired as an assistant engineer in the Greater Bengaluru Authority area 22 days before the raids, resulted in the seizure of approximately ₹1.03 crore in cash. The Lokayukta said searches at four locations linked to Ranganath found total assets worth ₹5.69 crore, including illegal assets valued at ₹3.84 crore.
The property linked to Ranganath reportedly included gold jewellery valued at ₹40 lakh, nine acres and 35 guntas of agricultural land valued at ₹1.74 crore, four houses and two sites. Across the eight cases, immovable assets found during the searches were valued at ₹17.98 crore, while movable assets were valued at ₹11.63 crore, according to the statement.
The searches bring together officials connected to land registration, municipal administration, electricity distribution, welfare-hostel management and district administration. The Lokayukta investigation is continuing, and the final legal status of the assets and allegations will depend on the investigation and subsequent proceedings.
