Zameer Ahmed Khan Disproportionate Assets Case Lokayukta Prosecution Sanction

The Karnataka Lokayukta police, investigating a disproportionate assets case against former minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, have sought Governor Thawarchand Gehlot’s sanction to prosecute him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Lokayukta police wrote to the governor on July 9 seeking approval to file a chargesheet against the Congress MLA, sources said. Khan was a minister in the Siddaramaiah government but was left out of the new state cabinet under Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

In 2021, the Karnataka Lokayukta police registered a First Information Report (FIR) alleging that Khan had amassed wealth 2,031 times greater than his known sources of income. The FIR was based on information provided by the Enforcement Directorate, which claimed that the MLA had amassed Rs 87.44 crore disproportionate to his income. The central agency also wrote to the Karnataka Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2021, asking it to investigate further.

The Lokayukta probe has since found that Khan allegedly amassed Rs 26 crore of excess wealth, according to sources.

Last year, the Karnataka High Court rejected Khan’s plea to close the Lokayukta investigation after he argued that the Lokayukta police did not conduct a preliminary probe to ascertain the ED’s corruption allegations. The Lokayukta police argued that there was no requirement for a preliminary probe, as the investigation was taken up on a central agency’s reference.

The investigation covers Khan’s wealth accumulated while serving as a minister in the Congress government between 2013 and 2018.

Meanwhile, Lokayukta police sources said the July 9 decision to transfer an IPS officer, who was a superintendent of police of a Bengaluru unit of the anti-corruption agency, was not linked to the move to seek prosecution sanction against Khan, but was linked to a decision to carry out a trap in the Vijayapura region, without the knowledge of Lokayukta Justice (Retd) B S Patil.

On July 9, the Karnataka Lokayukta stated, “In the interest of the administration of the Karnataka Lokayukta, it is ordered that the services of Shri Shivaprakash Devaraju, IPS, who is serving as the Superintendent of Police in the Bangalore City-1 division of this institution, be returned to the Government with immediate effect…”.

A few days before the transfer order, the IPS officer reportedly carried out a trap operation against an assistant executive engineer in the Vijayapura district—it falls outside his jurisdiction of Bengaluru—without bringing it to the Lokayukta’s notice, sources said.

The IPS officer was also reportedly a supervising official in the investigation against Khan.