Former Bengaluru (Urban) Deputy Commissioner J. Manjunath, arrested over graft charges on Monday, is the third in the post to be arrested in the last decade.
M.K. Aiyappa and B.M. Vijay Shankar were similarly arrested in 2013 and 2019 over graft charges. Before that, Special DC Ramanjaneya was arrested by the Lokayukta police in a trap case in 2010, but was discharged by the court for want of evidence in 2015. While Mr. Ramanjaneya quit service to fight his case, Mr. Vijay Shankar unfortunately ended his life. Several other tahsildars and ACs have also been arrested over the last decade.
Except in the case of Mr. Vijay Shankar, who faced graft charges in the IMA scam, three other DCs faced allegations of corruption in land cases, indicating how skyrocketing land prices on the outskirts of the city have been a major source of corruption, a senior property consultant said. Most of the cases in which DCs have been arrested also pertain to land cases from the city’s outskirts — Anekal, Madappanahalli near Kempegowda International Airport and Begur.
