BENGALURU: Early Friday morning, Lokayukta officers raided the residence of Athhar Ali, deputy controller with legal metrology, in HRBR Layout. As officers knocked on his door, Ali hastily gathered all his jewelry, stuffed it into a loosely tied bag, and hurled it from the first floor into a neighbor’s yard. The bag, containing nearly 2kg of gold, was promptly recovered by vigilant Lokayukta officers.
The raid commenced around 6:30 am. Upon identifying themselves, the Lokayukta officers were met with a closed door. Suspecting foul play, they surrounded the house and caught Ali in the act of disposing of the bag. The officers quickly retrieved the gold chains and ornaments scattered on the ground. Ali, in his haste, had not properly packed the items.
SP (Lokayukta) Kona Vamsi Krishna stated that his staff was alerted when they saw Ali throwing the bag from his house. By the end of the day, police estimated Ali’s assets to be worth Rs 8.6 crore, including Rs 25 lakh in cash, 2.2kg gold, 4kg silver, four sites, and three houses. Ali was among 12 government officials targeted in Lokayukta raids across Bengaluru City, Rural, Tumakuru, Shivamogga, Yadgir, and Mysuru for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.
Other officials raided included Invest Karnataka Forum COO CT Muddu Kumar, Yadgir ZP project director Balanth Rathod, Doddaballapur senior veterinary officer R Siddappa, Hebbagodi municipal commissioner K Narasimha Murthy, KIADB FDA BV Raja, JC (commercial taxes) Ramesh Kumar, Antaragange gram panchayat president Nagesh B, horticulture dept deputy director Prakash GN, labour officer Chetan Kumar, Mangaluru Mahanagara Palike official Anand CL, and Bengaluru North FDA Manjunath TR.
