Lokayukta Cops nab Judicial Dept. Officer

Mysuru – The Lokayukta Police on Monday arrested a Judicial Department Officer in connection with the alleged scam relating to the appointment of Assistant Public Prosecutors (APP) in 2014.

Narayanaswamy, an Administrative Officer with the Directorate of Public Prosecution, is the one who has been arrested.

Details: One Ravindra of Chikkamagalur, in a private complaint lodged with the Lokayukta (PCR No. 37/14) had alleged massive irregularities in the appointment of 190 APPs in 2014.

The then Lokayukta Special Court Judge Gopal, who heard the compliant, directed the Lokayukta Police to prove the case.

The Lokayukta Police, who began probe into the case, filed an FIR against the then Acting Director of the Department of Public Prosecution, Chandrashekar Hiremath, who was also the Member-Secretary of APP/ AGP Selection Panel, the then Under Secretary to the Government Devendrappa Kattimani, Director of Public Prosecutors Office Staff Manjula, Harshitha and others (FIR No. 59/ 14).

Following the filing of FIR, Chandrashekar Hiremath moved the District Court seeking anticipatory bail, which was rejected. He later moved the High Court and succeeded in getting anticipatory bail.

Based on Chandrashekar Hiremath’s statement, the Lokayukta Police seized all records pertaining to the APP appointment from the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecution.

The records  seized were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). Based on the FSL report, which prima facie found the tampering of answer sheets to be true, the Lokayukta Police arrested Narayanaswamy.

The Lokayukta Police investigation revealed that the signatures of 25 District Judges were forged during the process of APP recruitment. Also the answer papers of some candidates were tampered with and even the answer scripts were added in some cases in exchange for huge sum of money.

Besides, the candidates selected for APP posts were administered oath at a private hotel in Bengaluru’s majestic area, in gross violation of norms.

The FSL report has only affirmed all these charges, according to the Lokayukta Police.

With the Lokayukta Police busting the APP appointment scam, five Judges, who were promoted to the post after being appointed as Assistant Public Prosecutors, are in  the dock. Sources said that action will be taken against these Judges too.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Investigating Officers have identified six beneficiaries of the APP recruitment scam, who are serving at different Courts across the district.

The FIR filed by the Lokayukta Police initially did not mention Narayanaswamy as an accused. But as FSL report  confirmed that the tampered answer sheets beard the signature of Narayanaswamy, the  Lokayukta Police arrested him.

With the Lokayukta Police arresting Narayanswamy, the advocate fraternity has suspected the involvement of  politicians in the scam.