Uday Kumar, a civil contractor who had exposed L Govindaraju, now says that spiteful corporator wants his penthouse demolished; Lokayukta mum

Unforeseen trouble for whistleblower

Uday Kumar, a civil contractor who had exposed L Govindaraju, now says that spiteful corporator wants his penthouse demolished; Lokayukta mum

A civil contractor who helped Lokayukta trap his corrupt area corporator while demanding a bribe is now in trouble, as the latter came out on bail hell-bent on demolishing his building citing violations.

It may be recalled that MiD DAY had published a report ('I've spent crores to become a corporator', July 7) when Congress corporator L Govindaraju was arrested while accepting a bribe from contractor Uday Kumar.

Kumar approached the Lokayukta officials to bail him out who expressed their helplessness, though they had initially promised to help.

"There is no system in place at the Lokayukta for such matters," said a senior official.
u00a0
"The Lokayukta should have a set of rules and guidelines, starting from investigations, traps and even taking care of the complainants' interest," said a police officer adding that after MLA Sampangi's case of harassing a complainant, the number of complainants to the Lokayukta have come down drastically.

"I have paid the price for approaching the Lokayukta as all my competitors have ganged up to support Govindaraju for bringing down my house," he said, adding that a delegation of corporators had approached BBMP commissioner to pester him to issue orders for the demolition of his penthouse.

Kumar, who managed to obtain records from the BBMP and BDA, claimed that Govindaraju himself has committed gross violations and encroached BDA sites to buildu00a0 apartments.
u00a0
Though notices had been issued earlier, nothing was done after he became a corporator, he said. There are hundreds of buildings that are violating the building bylaws. However, targeting only my building by Govindaraju shows it is a clear case of revenge," he said.

The case

Govindaraju, citing building violations, had demanded a Rs 8 lakh bribe or a flat from Kumar, who was constructing a three-storyed apartment complex in Banashankari III stage.

When the harassment continued, Kumar paid Rs 2 lakh apart from paying Rs 1.25 lakh to the site engineers. When Govindaraju started demanding more money, Kumar complained to Lokayukta officials and helped them catch Govindaraju red handed in July this year.

After spending 15 days in judicial custody, Govindaraju came back with a vengeance and raised objections in the council and staged a dharna in front of the BBMP commissioner's chamber, seeking permission to demolish Kumar's penthouse, alleging that it violated BBMP norms.