India: This Bengaluru gardener is multi-millionaire, with houses, gold, cars and much more
500 Anti-Corruption Bureau swoop down on 21 government officers at 80 locations in city
Bengaluru (Karnataka): Karnataka Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials were in for a shock as they unearthed the wealth of Shivalingaiah, a gardener in Bangalore Development Authority who allegedly owned four houses, agricultural and commercial land, three cars along with other assets.
According to a statement by ACB, the gardener owned three houses, five prime plots in Bengaluru, agricultural and commercial land in Channapatna in Ramanagara district and Mysuru worth millions of rupees, 510 grams of gold ornaments, 700 grams of silver articles, 2 two-wheelers, three cars, Rs 86,000 cash, savings or deposits of Rs 80,000 and household articles worth Rs 10,00,000.
On Friday, over 500 ACB officials swooped down on 21 government officers at 80 locations acting on suspicion that they had amassed assets disproportionate to their known sources of income, ACB authorities said yesterday.
ACB officials’ search operations began on Friday morning and a huge quantity of gold and silver ornaments, cash, savings, land, and vehicles were seized from the places raided.
In the Karwar district, the ACB officials raided Sridhar BS District Registrar’s residence and found two houses in various layouts of Bengaluru, one open site in Lakkasandra, 650 silver ornaments, one farmhouse in Kanakapura Maralawadi, two acres of land in Mailanahalli in Nelamangala Taluka, two motorcycles, two cars, Rs 30,000 cash, savings or deposits of Rs 24 lakhs in various banks and household articles worth Rs 6 lakhs.
Cash and jewellery have been seized from a house belonging to the parents of Police Inspector Uday Ravi in Mudugal in Karnataka’s Raichur district.
Meanwhile, in Udupi, ACB officials raided the house of Harish, Assistant Engineer for the Small Irrigation Department.
A total of 80 ACB teams raided places and are currently verifying the assets, properties, gold, bank accounts and other valuables. Document verification and collection of information are currently underway.