Mining: 2 probe officials told to lay off
While there is no specific recommendation on the alleged sudden transfer of former ADGP-Lokayukta Jeevan Kumar Gaonkar, the Supreme Court-appointed CEC has remained silent on two serious instances of criminal intimidation faced by two officials – IFS officer U.V. Singh and Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Mr Joseph Andrews. The letter written by Mr Andrews, which was submitted to the CEC by the Samaja Parivarthana Samudaya (SPS), gives a blow-by-blow account of events and abuse of office by powerful public servants. The officer had entered the premises of Vijaya Leasing Company, owned by Mr Gali Janardhan Reddy, on July 23, 2009 at 3.10 and received six calls, including from the then Deputy Commissioner Shivappa, threatening him to leave the office.
In his letter to Joint Commissioner A.K. Syed, Mr Andrews has stated that after detailed investigation, the office of the Vijaya Leasing Company was found to be on Bengaluru Road in Bellary. On July 23, 2009, Mr Andrews went to the office at 3.10 pm and met the General Manager of the firm, Mr Bhasker Reddy. “After disclosing our identities and purpose of visit, I asked him to produce the regular books of accounts for verification. He (Bhaskar Reddy) said he would call his accountant on the phone and went outside the business premises,’’ the letter stated.
At 3.17 pm, Mr Andrews got a call from the number 080-22381331. The person introduced himself as Nagendra, the Kudligi MLA, and said that the firm belonged to ‘big boss’ G. Janardhan Reddy. He asked Andrews to leave the premises immediately. Three minutes later, Mr Andrews got another call from the mobile number 9980804815 and the caller identified himself as Ali, personal assistant to Mr Janardhan Reddy, and asked him to leave the premises. Later, Ali called again and rudely ordered Mr Andrews to leave the premises at once.
“At 3.56 pm, I got a call from 9480803002 (state police number) and the caller introduced himself as Ashok Kurer, Additional SP of Bellary, and told me that the company belonged to the tourism minister, who had called the Additional SP to inform me to leave the premises at once,’’ Mr Andrews stated in the letter.
The last call he received in the office of the Vijaya Leasing Company was from the then Bellary DC, Mr Shivappa, who too asked him to leave the premises without verifying any documents. The petitioners before the Supreme Court, Mr S.R. Hiremath and Mr Vishnu Kamath, had produced the letters written by Mr Andrews to Joint Commissioner A.K. Syed and also the letter to Commissioner, Commercial Taxes, Mr Pradeep Singh Korola, who allegedly did not act on them.
These letters were submitted to the CEC on April 17, however no action has been recommended in the report.
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