Bengaluru: After searches at the home of a bureaucrat son of a Karnataka BJP MLA caught accepting a bribe a day earlier, officials discovered an unbelievable mountain of cash worth about 6 crores, officials said on Friday, in a huge embarrassment for the party trying to woo voters for elections later this year.
NDTV in a related report has also said that the massive amount of cash was discovered during a raid on the residence of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa's son Prashanth Madal by the Lokayukta, the state's ombudsman. The search continued well into the night.
The chairman of the state-owned Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL), which manufactures the renowned Mysore Sandal Soap, is Madal Virupakshappa, an MLA from Channagiri in the Davanagere region. His son works for Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) as the chief accountant.
Officers from the Karnataka Lokayukta office detained Mr Virupakshappa's son on Thursday after they discovered him accepting a bribe of 40 lahks at the KSDL office. According to officials, at least three bags of cash totalling 1.75 crore rupees were discovered at the workplace, which has also been seized.
"The anti-corruption branch of Lokayukta yesterday caught Prashanth Madal, son of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa while taking a bribe of ₹ 40 lahks. Over ₹ 1.7 crore in cash was recovered from his office," the Karnataka Lokayukta said.
The Ombudsman claimed that a complaint about Prashanth Madal, a Karnataka Administrative Services officer from the 2008 batch, demanding an 81 lakh rupee payoff from a contractor for a deal for raw materials required to make soap and other detergents, had alerted them to the situation.
Basavaraj Bommai, the chief minister of Karnataka, stated that an impartial inquiry will be carried out by the ombudsman. He also criticised the opposition Congress.
"We have re-established Lokayukta to curb corruption. During the Congress regime, with Lokayukta dissolved, a lot of cases were closed. We will investigate the cases which were closed. Lokayukta is an independent institution and our stand is clear. The institution will investigate independently and we will not interfere in it," he said.
Accusations of corruption in the state government have undermined the Karnataka BJP's efforts to win a second term, which have been spearheaded by frequent trips to the state by party leader JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The opposition has nicknamed Mr Bommai's administration the "40%" government and accused it of implementing a common rate of kickbacks.