Pramesh S Jain & Binish Thomas (Special correspondent)
The Vidhana soudha police on Wednesday registered a case against unknown person who posing as Lokayukta officer threatening officials of different government department with cases demanding money.
Based on the complaint filed by Mallikarjuna CS, Superintendent at Lokayukta office,the police charged the accused with impersonation and extortion under BNS.Efforts are on to track down the accused, the police, said.
The incident came to light whe head constable Nayaz, who is handling Lokayukta helpline received a call from an officer from Udupi Taluk office on September 6 , seeking information about the officer by name Phanindra.
The officer informed the help line that Phanindra made a call to him from the mobile phone informing that a case under Prevention of Corruption Act has been filed against him and demanded Rs.1 lakh to drop the charges .
Initially the officer ignored but later unable to bear harassment from the frequent calls,he approached the Lokayukta helpline to raise the complaint.
The officials verified the mobile number from the Truecaller where it was showing as TKN Phanindra , Karnataka Lokayukta.
The officials further verified and complained that the accused was making threat calls to other government officials trying to extort money.
This according to Mr.Mallikarjuna,would tarnish the image of the institution and demanded strict action against the accused.The police are yet to make any arrest in this regard .