Lokayukta raids: 3 APMC officials arrested

Mangalore: The Karnataka Lokayukta on Thursday May 8 raided  the offices of three officers  of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) and found cash worth Rs 1.52 lakh, which was disproportionate to their known sources of income. All the three officers have been arrested and are expected to be produced in court in the afternoon. The  Joint Director of APMC enforcement department B Satish Kumar was caught with Rs 1 lakh unaccounted cash along with his associate officials Jagadishaiah and Venkateshaiah who had  Rs 26000 in cash. It is said that the three of them, instead of penalising agricultural merchants who evaded tax, used to collect bribes in return for shielding them. The Lokayukta officials who learnt of this, conducted the raids. While Satish Kumar was arrested from a club in Kadri here, Jagadishaiah and Venkateshaiah, both from Bangalore, were arrested from a hotel in Puttur. Lokayukta DSP Umesh Shet said that the officials seized Rs 1.52 lac of illegal money from the three accused.   News Karnataka