Kalaburagi: Nearly Rs 54 lakh in cash and golden ornaments were seized as the ACB officials raided multiple places across Karnataka. Giving further details, Mahesh Meghannanavar, SP, North Eastern Range, ACB, said a total of Rs 54 lakhs in cash found during the raid including Rs 13 lakhs recovered from one of the drainage pipes at the house of a PWD junior engineer. During the raid, the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) officials found the currency notes hidden in ceiling at the engineer’s residence
They found so much of currency notes that the ACB officials had to employ a plumber to recover the notes hidden in the ceiling and pipes at the residence of Shanta Gouda, an engineer working at the Public Works Department (PWD) The visuals of the raid went viral
on social media showing how ACB officials were pulling out Rs 500 notes from the water pipes of the engineer’s house. As pert the AVB officials, Rs 10 lakh were hidden in pipes while Rs 6 lakhs were hidden in the ceiling.
The raid from the ACB comes in the wake of a complaint by Karnataka Contractors Association that contractors taking up civil works have to cough up commissions. According to ACB sources, notes were also found hidden in sarees.
High drama was witnessed when Shanta Gouda did not answer the door for 15 minutes even as the team was continuously knocking on the door. The ACB officials learnt that Shanta Gouda, along with his son, was busy stashing cash into the wash basin outlet.
After the ACB officials entered his house, they had to cut open the pipe and confiscated Rs 13.50 lakh in cash.
As per a report by IANS, Shanta Gouda had inherited two acres of land from his father and now owns more than 35 acres near Kalaburagi.
Similarly, ACB officers also bumped into wads of cash hidden in sarees in the house of L.C. Nagaraj, who works as an administrator of Sakala department. The officers also confiscated a bundle of dollars from the residence of Group ‘C’ employee Nataji Hiraji Patil in Belagavi.