SALAR NEWS

Former clerk with Rs 15K pay owns Rs 30 cr assets

The clerk was found with ₹30 crore in assets, including 24 houses and 40 acres of land, after a Lokayukta raid; meanwhile, ED searched 10 premises linked to Ozone Urbana Developers over a Bengaluru housing scam.

Agencies

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NEW DELHI/BENGALURU 1 AUG

The Karnataka Lokayukta has exposed how a corrupt government employee, even in a very low rank in the administration, could amass wealth.

Kalakappa Nidagundi, who had previously worked as a clerk at the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL) in Koppal, is now the owner of 24 houses, around 40 acres of land, and unaccounted assets worth Rs 30 crore. He had a monthly salary of only Rs 15,000.

The big fraud was exposed after a raid by the Karnataka Lokayukta officials as part of its crackdown on potential misuse of official positions and amassing wealth more than the declared sources of income.

ED RAIDS 10 PREMISES

Meanwhile, in another development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted searches at 10 premises connected to a builder group and its key management personnel at Bengaluru and Mumbai, officials said.

The searches are still underway. ED's Bangaluru zonal office is conducting the search under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The searches are being conducted on money laundering allegations against the company in its project in Devanahalli Taluk in Bengaluru, the officials said.

"The integrated township project was to be handed over to buyers in 2018. However, by 2024, only 49 per cent of the project was completed. The company has failed to hand over the project and has neither returned the money to the buyers," said the officials.

HOMEBUYERS CASE

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted searches against Bengaluru-based Ozone Urbana Developers Pvt. Ltd. and its promoters, who are accused of duping home buyers worth crores of rupees in the name of selling them flats in their residential project, official sources said.

At least ten premises were raided in Bangalore and Mumbai under the PMLA, the sources said.

The main promoter of the group is Satyamoorthi Vasudevan.