Rs 25 lakh in cash and a huge quantity of gold was recovered in the raid at the PWD official's home
Highlights
- The raid took place on the residence of a PWD joint engineer
- Rs 25 lakh in cash and a huge quantity of gold were recovered
- A plumber extracted the wads of currency notes from the pipes
Wads of currency notes were dug out of pipelines in a raid by Karnataka's Anti-Corruption Bureau at the residence of an engineer with the Public Works Development (PWD).
Officials said the residence of PWD joint engineer Shantha Gowda Biradar in Kalburgi district was raided as part of a statewide crackdown on government officials accused of corruption.
During the raid at Mr Biradar's residence, officials of the Anti-Corruption Bureau recovered Rs 25 lakh in cash and a huge quantity of gold. On receiving information that the PWD joint engineer had hidden cash in the pipelines at his residence, officials got a plumber to extract the wads of currency notes from the pipes.
Visuals recorded during the raid show officials and the plumber removing sections of pipes and fishing out wads of notes from inside. Apparently, these pipes for show were installed at the house to hide unaccounted cash.
The raid at Mr Biradar's residence is part of a statewide crackdown on officials accused of corruption. The Anti-Corruption Bureau has conducted searches at 60 locations in connection with disproportionate assets cases against 15 officials.
The bureau recently raided the office of the Bengaluru Development Authority too.
Responding to a query on this, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai recently said the state government will not tolerate corruption in any form.
"Our government will not tolerate corruption in any form. There is no question of shielding anyone found guilty," he said.
The Chief Minister said the state government will act on the basis of the report submitted by the Anti-Corruption Bureau.