Ayukta case: SIT wants to name Bhaskar Rao accused

BENGALURU: The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the Lokayukta extortion case, is said to be set to name former Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao as an accused in the additional chargesheet.

Sources in the SIT said that the process of drafting the additional chargesheet was on and the name of Justice Rao was also included in it. “He will be named as accused number seven in the first case filed by M.N. Krishnamurthy, the then Executive Engineer in Zilla Panchayat, Bengaluru Urban. His name would be included in the other four cases as well, when we file additional chargesheets in those cases,” an official said.

The other six accused in the first case are former Joint Commissioner and public relations officer of Lokayukta Syed Riaz, realtor Ashok Kumar, Justice Rao’s son Ashwin Yerabati, RTI activist V. Bhaskar alias 420 Bhaskar, Shankare Gowda and Srinivas Gowda.

However, the SIT is waiting for the sanction for prosecution order to go ahead with the filing of chargesheet against Justice Rao. The SIT had sent a letter to the government seeking its approval for prosecuting Justice Rao in February and the status of the same is yet to be known. The Governor is the ultimate authority to grant or deny permission to prosecute the former Lokayukta.

It is learnt that SIT is also taking legal experts’ opinion on this, as Justice Rao is not holding any official position now. “We are verifying whether to go ahead with the chargesheet with the government’s permission as well. However, we are hopeful that we will get to know that status of the requisition on the same very shortly, as it has more than two months now,” the official added.

If the chargesheet is filed against Justice Rao, he will be accused of abetting the alleged extortion racket run by his son Ashwin. Earlier, the SIT had considered Justice Rao as a witness in three of the five chargesheets submitted in connection with the extortion cases.