A special court for Lokayukta cases in Karnataka on Friday rejected for the second time an anticipatory bail plea filed by IPS officer Srinath Mahadev Joshi in connection with an alleged extortion racket targeting government officials in the name of Lokayukta officials.
A former Lokayukta police officer, Joshi’s plea was rejected as being “devoid of merits” after the Lokayukta police told the court that he had appeared for investigations on the basis of notices issued to him and that there is no apprehension of arrest.
The special court had previously rejected Joshi’s anticipatory bail plea on June 24 after the Karnataka High Court stayed the probe in the FIR registered by the Lokayukta police against a retired police constable, Ningappa Savant, who is accused of carrying out extortion in the name of Lokayukta officials, including police officers.
The court previously noted that the Lokayukta police had alleged that Joshi, who was working as the superintendent of police in the Karnataka Lokayukta, had “joined his hands with the accused by name Ningappa @ Ningappa Savant and conspired together to extract the money from the government servants of various departments”.
The special court noted in its June 24 order that Joshi was making phone calls to government officials through Savant “and illegally extracting the money by posing the threat of raids”. The court also noted on the basis of the police submissions that Joshi was investing money he obtained through illegal activities in cryptocurrency.
The counsel for Joshi had argued that he had served the police force for more than 20 years in various districts and “received the President’s award”.
The IPS officer sought anticipatory bail for the second time after the Karnataka High Court ruled on July 8 that the first summons issued to him by the Lokayukta police to appear for investigations on July 15 had lapsed and that fresh summons could be issued.
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The Lokayukta police told the special court during the arguments this week in the second anticipatory bail plea filed by Joshi that he had appeared before the agency and surrendered his mobile phones and that his voice samples need to be collected.
“Joshi was in touch with Ningappa and was involved in threatening government officials to extort money. They used the code word ‘kg’ (for money), the preliminary probe has revealed. The money was converted by investing in cryptocurrency,” the Lokayukta said in an official statement on the probe on July 3.
The extortion activities linked to the Karnataka Lokayukta emerged after a May 23 extortion bid on a Regional Transport Officer in Tumkur where he filed a complaint with the Tumkur police saying he had received a call from an unidentified number by a caller claiming to be Vamsi Krishna, the superintendent of police of the Bengaluru City Lokayukta unit, demanding money to prevent a Lokayukta raid.