It was an extortion bid on a regional transport officer (RTO) in Karnataka’s Tumakuru final month that led to the unravelling of an alleged racket involving insiders within the Lokayukta, the state’s anti-corruption ombudsman.
The probe into the alleged extortion racket involving at the least one excessive rating police officer related to the Lokayukta police unit in Karnataka has resulted within the arrest of a former police constable, who was a key operative of the racket, and the doable arrest of an IPS officer, who was working within the Karnataka Lokayukta’s Bengaluru unit till just lately, for being a beneficiary.
The chronology of occasions resulting in the June 2 arrest of ‘dismissed’ police constable Ningappa Savant alias Police Ningappa, 45, reveals that it was an extortion bid on Tumakuru RTO A V Prasad on Could 23 that introduced the alleged extortion racket within the Karnataka Lokayukta to mild.
On Could 23, Prasad filed a criticism with the Tumakuru police saying that he had obtained a name from an unidentified quantity from a caller claiming to be Vamsi Krishna, Superintendent of Police (SP) of the Bengaluru metropolis Lokayukta unit, demanding ₹ 1 lakh to stop a Lokayukta raid.
Based on the criticism, the caller advised the RTO, “I’m Vamsi Krishna, Lokayukta SP. After 10 minutes, the ADGP (of the Lokayukta police) might be talking to you.” The RTO mentioned that after some time, he obtained a second name the place the caller mentioned the Lokayukta was getting ready to raid the RTO’s properties and that the raid could be cancelled “on cost of ₹ 1 lakh” by way of Google Pay.
The RTO reported the matter to the Tumakuru police. The Lokayukta police, who had been knowledgeable of the alleged extortion try, additionally swung into motion, and the probe quickly revealed that Ningappa was allegedly behind the calls.
The Lokayukta police caught Ningappa and positioned him beneath arrest on June 2. The following investigation revealed that IPS officer Srinath Joshi, 53, who was additionally a Lokayukta SP for Bengaluru metropolis, was allegedly carefully linked to Ningappa and was a beneficiary of almost ₹ 4 crore of funds amassed and saved in cryptocurrencies by the previous police constable by way of the extortion racket.
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A number of extortion instances
During the last 12 months, a number of extortion instances have been registered in Karnataka, the place the names of high Lokayukta judicial and law enforcement officials had been used.
In December 2024, in a case registered on the Anekal police station within the Bengaluru Rural district, the Lokayukta deputy registrar for inquiries, Aravind N V, had filed a criticism of an extortion bid on Kariya Naik, the Anekal deputy tahsildar, utilizing the title and caller ID of the Karnataka Upalokayukta Justice B Veerappa.
On June 4, 2025, Harsha Naik, an assistant government engineer of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), filed a criticism with the Malleswaram police in Bengaluru stating that she had obtained calls from an individual with the caller ID of ‘KLA Rangaswamy B S Patil’ (Justice B S Patil is the Karnataka Lokayukta) demanding ₹ 1 lakh to clear corruption allegations towards her title. The caller additionally allegedly claimed to be the Lokayukta ADGP in a single name.
An ex-cop targets excise officers
The Lokayukta police probe to this point has discovered that a number of “authorities officers have delivered 1000’s/lakhs of rupees in money/Cellphone Pay to callers pretending to be faux Lokayukta officers” from the concern of anti-corruption police raids. The probe has additionally discovered that “the actual officers (of the Lokayukta) weren’t those who threatened” authorities officers with anti-corruption raids.
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“It’s learnt that an individual named Ningappa made calls and despatched messages to senior officers of the excise division’s Bangalore metropolis divisions and a few BBMP officers by way of WhatsApp, saying that there are complaints towards them within the Lokayukta workplace. It’s learnt that he’s illegally accumulating cash by threatening,” a report of the Lokayukta police has acknowledged.
“A few of the earlier extortion instances are usually not linked to Ningappa, though the modus operandi was precisely the identical. Ningappa was primarily concentrating on excise officers,” a Lokayukta supply mentioned. Ningappa allegedly created a WhatsApp group of excise officers to produce data on Lokayukta actions, the supply added.
“The investigations into the case are in progress and the accused Ningappa @ Ningappa Savant has admitted that he has recovered cash from numerous officers of the excise division for the final six months,” the Karnataka Lokayukta mentioned in an official assertion on June 17. Sources indicated that Ningappa had collected over ₹ 50 lakh from excise officers by way of extortion.
“He has admitted that he has invested the cash recovered in cryptocurrency in his personal title and that of his family. His cell was checked, and it was discovered that he had invested the cash in about 13 crypto wallets,” the Lokayukta mentioned.
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Ningappa is alleged to have amassed over ₹ 4.15 crore in cryptocurrencies by way of extortion actions.
Based on the Lokayukta probe, Ningappa often visited the Bengaluru Lokayukta workplace to satisfy some officers to allegedly acquire details about officers of different departments to extort cash from them.
IPS officer Joshi was allegedly carefully related to Ningappa from his days as a superintendent of police within the Chitradurga district, Ningappa’s dwelling district. Joshi allegedly launched Ningappa to different police officers who labored within the Chitradurga area as effectively.
On June 16, Joshi filed for anticipatory bail in a particular courtroom within the mild of searches by the Lokayukta police on his properties and a summons for interrogation concerning his hyperlinks to Ningappa and the alleged extortion racket. The bail plea is ready to be heard on June 19 after the submitting of objections by the Lokayukta police.