Karnataka lottery scam: CBI probe to nail ‘tainted’ BJP bigwigs

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reportedly took the decision to order a CBI probe into the lottery scam only after the state government machinery stumbled upon “incriminating” evidence against a few senior leaders of Opposition parties.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader in the Chief Minister's camp disclosed that a senior bureaucrat stumbled upon “few records” that appear to be very incriminating in nature. “None is aware of the nature of documents unearthed by the bureaucrat. The name of this bureaucrat has been kept a secret. It is known only to one or two members in the CM's camp,” the leader said adding that Mr Siddaramaiah apparently spoke to the bureaucrat past midnight after he called on him along with the former's friend. Once the details were known, the Chief Minister decided that it was a fit case to be handed over to the CBI.

These documents evidently pertain to the call details of a senior leader who held a key position in the previous BJP government, and with links with various lobbies at play in the city. The CM quickly consulted Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Mr Digvijay Singh, and informed him about the decision to hand over the case to CBI. Subsequently, he spoke to some senior ministers and elicited their views on handing over the probe to the CBI.

Hold Siddaramaiah, BJP responsible: H.D. Deve Gowda

JD(S) patriarch H.d. Deve Gowda on Wednesday blamed the Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the previous BJP government for the boom of illegal lottery in Karnataka.

He told the media that though his son H D Kumaraswamy banned lotteries in March 2007, leaders of BJP did precious little to curb illegal single-digit lottery despite being in power from late 2007 to 2013. Recently, Mr Kumaraswamy wrote to Mr Siddaramaiah about the scam but the state government did not take any action to curb illegal lottery.

He, however, welcomed the decision of the Government to hand over the probe into illegal lottery scam to CBI, adding “any CM in this scenario would have gone for CBI probe.” He warned Mr Siddaramaiah that many more issues would crop up in future. “I have seen Mr Kumaraswamy becoming emotional at times. I advise him against becoming emotional. We have enough time and we are born to fight. He should be patient,” Mr Gowda added.