Bengaluru:
In the eye of a storm over charges of corruption in his office, with his son’s name also dragged into it, Karnataka Lokayukta Bhaskar Rao today ruled out his resignation, even as the government ordered an SIT probe into the alleged bribery scandal.
As pressure mounted for his exit, Rao said, government has ordered the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged corruption by some Lokayukta officials and rejected calls for his resignation.
The institution was rocked by the alleged scandal recently after its Superintendent of Police Sonia Narang blew the lid off with a letter to its Registrar, about the complaint she received from a person, who alleged that someone from the Lokayukta office demanded Rs 1 crore in bribe to avoid a raid.
Expressing reservations over the internal probe into the matter, social activists have been demanding the resignation of Rao, alleging that his relatives including his son were also involved in corruption.
However, Rao dismissed the charges that his relatives were involved in any graft. “Why should I resign? Neither me nor my family members, including my son, are involved in the corruption,” he told PTI.
“Moreover, it has become a fashion nowadays for everyone to mindlessly throw mud on people and demand resignation for each and everything coming in the public domain - I wouldn’t resign,” Rao, a former Karnataka High Court Chief Justice, said.
Asked if he would quit in case the SIT finds him or his son guilty, Rao said, “Hundred per cent, no hundred and fifty per cent I will resign if any one of my family members is found guilty.”
