Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao resigns over extortion scam

Amidst a tenure fraught with controversy, former Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court and current Lokayukta of the state Justice Y Bhaskar Rao has resigned from his post..As per a press release on a state government website, Justice Rao tendered his resignation to the Governor yesterday..Justice Rao found himself in the dock after allegations of his son’s involvement in an extortion racket within the Lokayukta office were brought to light. A bribe of 1 crore was allegedly demanded by an executive engineer claiming to be a Lokayukta staffer. The scam was unearthed in May this year, after Superintendent of Police Sonia Narang sought a probe into corruption within the institution..To make matters worse, the Lokayukta and the Upa Lokayukta, Justice Adi, were at loggerheads over who should conduct the investigation. To protest the inaction, the State Legislative Assembly had passed a motion calling for the impeachment of both officers, which the Speaker then referred to Acting Chief Justice SK Mukherjee..Calls for Justice Rao’s resignation came from civil society as well, with the Anti Corruption Council of India moving the Supreme Court just last week, demanding that the former judge demit office..As of now, the anti-graft institution virtually stands defunct, with the two top officers precluded from discharging their duties pending the fate of the impeachment motion. According to this report, 13,000 corruption cases hang in the balance..Image taken from here.