Bribe-taker’s husband rushes to her defence

Lokayukta sleuths played him a recording of Jayalakshmi Devi's calls demanding money, and that shut him up. She was caught while allegedly taking Rs 2 lakh to approve degree courses

Bribe-taker's husband rushes to her defence

Lokayukta sleuths played him a recording of Jayalakshmi Devi's calls demanding money, and that shut him up.u00a0 She was caught while allegedly taking Rs 2 lakh to approve degree courses

An excise official rushed to the defence of Bangalore University syndicate member Jayalakshmi Devi after she was caught taking a bribe yesterday.

Ananth, Jayalakshmi Devi's husband and an officer in the excise department, said the Lokayukta was just trying to defame her.

He became quiet after officials played him a recording of Jayalakshmi Devi's conversation with college officials, negotiating money.

As chairperson of a local inspection committee, she had allegedly demanded Rs 5 lakh to approve BCA and B Com courses for Pragun Jindal Education Institute.

After negotiation, she settled for Rs 2 lakh and instructed liaison officer A K Sridhar to meet her on Monday at SNT Comforts, a hotel in Upparpet.

When Sridhar reached there with colleague Hayath Khan, Devi called him on his mobile phone and told him to hand over the money to receptionist Jayaramu.

On Sridhar's protests, she agreed to send her son, Alok A Vasista.

A team of officials caught Jayaramu and Alok red-handed while the latter was receiving the packet.

Hubby enabled

When the team went to arrest Jayalakshmi Devi, her husband Ananth demanded proof of her corruption.

He said it was a ploy to implicate his wife but when officials played the recorded phone conversation between Sridhar and Jayalakshmi Devi, he gave in.

Officials said Jayalakshmi Devi used her son to collect bribes regularly. "We have substantial proof against the mother and son but we are probing Jayaramu's link since he says he was ignorant of the dealing," additional director general of police R K Dutta said.

This is the first time the Lokayukta has trapped a university syndicate member.

BJP leader's candidate
Jayalakshmi Devi is said have the support of Ramachandra Gowda, medical education minister. He was not available for comment.

What of the others?
The news of Jayalakshmi Devi's trap spread like wildfire in the university.

According to sources in the university, Devi was not the only one taking money for approvals.

Some inspection committees had approved courses for colleges even without their applying.

This came to light during a recent university syndicate meeting, where over 20 colleges received approval to run professional courses when they hadn't even applied for them.

After verification, the syndicate rejected the approvals and initiated an inquiry.