A village accountant in Karnataka amasses illegal wealth worth Rs 100 million

A village accountant, who had officially earned about Rs 1.4 million throughout his 26 years of service, has managed to amass wealth amounting to a staggering Rs 100 million.

This came to light after the provincial ombudsman – Karnataka Lokayukta – carried out a surprise raid on the residence of T Hanumanthaiah, posted for duty at Bhirohalli village on the outskirts of Bangalore.

A palatial house in Vijaynagar area in Bangalore, worth Rs 10 million, six acres of wet-land in Bhirohalli, valued at Rs 2.5 million, a residential site in a prime locality in Banalore worth Rs 10 million, two cars worth more than a million rupees are just a portion of his ill-gotten wealth.

Sleuths of Lokayukta stumbled upon hard cash worth a total of Rs 6,67,350, which was found hidden under the tables and chairs in his premises. Gold and silver jewellery were also found in possession of the village accountant Hanumanthaiah.

Hanumanthaiah, who had not even taken a loan to construct his palatial house, turned out to be film producer as well. He had channelled a huge sum of funds towards the making of Kannada movie “Poojary”, which is due to release in film theatres across Karnataka shortly.

The Lokayukta led by N Venkatachaliah described Hanumanthaiah as a “prize catch”. “Village accountant Hanumanthaiah is the prize catch of the day. He had amassed hugely disproportionate to his known sources of income”, Venkatachalaiah told reporters.

The Lokayukta also raided the houses of Assistant Secretary of Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) N Nagaraj Naik and Deputy Superintendent of Excise, State Intelligence Bureau Thimme Gowda. While a search at Nagaraj Naik’s house revealed accounted assets amounting to Rs 70 million, Thimme Gowda was found to have amassed wealth worth Rs 80 million.

“I wonder how much money a human being needs”, said Venkatachalaiah after the raid. All the three officials were arrested under the Karnataka Prevention of Corruption Act and produced before the court.