BANGALORE: For every file that she had to move, deputy secretary Swarnalatha Bhandary
had a price. The official, attached to the primary and secondary
education department, had a unique way of collecting money from various
schools, both private and government run, stuffed in envelopes.
On Wednesday, a raiding team of Lokayukta police
found these envelopes. "When our officers raided her office at Vidhana
Soudha, we found a large number of envelopes -- some empty and some full
of cash -- with the number of the file she was handling. There was Rs
82,000 in nearly 20 envelopes, and she had Rs13,000 in her bag. To our
surprise, a large number of covers with file numbers written on them
were also found from her office - they were apparently given to her with
the amount she might have demanded from the schools," Lokayukta
officials said.
The raid was the result of a number of
complaints from various schools, which wanted to change their status
from unaided to aided institutions. They stated that the official
blatantly demanded money for official favours. "We are checking the file
numbers written on the covers she had in her office. We'll come to know
why those covers were given to her. There seems to be a nexus between
some schools and the official for various official favours. The exact
reason for which the money was paid will be known only after we compare
the file number and the original files she was handling," said a
spokesperson.
A case under Section 13(d)(e) of the Prevention
orf Corruption Act was booked against her. Her statement is being
recorded by Lokayukta police officers.
"She will have to explain
how the unaccounted money came to her. It also amounts to
disproportionate assets, as she had hard cash with her when Lokayukta
police raided her office," the spokesperson added.
According to secretariat sources, Swarnalatha joined the service as stenographer in 1996 and got promoted to this level.
No comments:
Post a Comment