Bommai bombshell: Media bribe claims spark Ayukta plaint

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: A controversy has broken o u t o v e r the alleged distribution of 'Diwali gifts' by the office of the chief minister among editors and senior reporters with a complaint reportedly filed with the Karnataka Lokayukta in Bengaluru on Friday.

The organisation Janadhikara Sangharsha Parishath (JSP) mentioned CM Basavaraj Bommai’s media co-ordinator Shankar Pagoji by name, claiming that he had sent “inducements” as high as Rs1 lakh in cash in envelopes hidden away inside sweet boxes to editors.

They also wrote to the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of THE state Lokayukta police. News Trail has accessed copies of the two letters. The development first came to light when editors of two prominent sister publications – one English, and the other a Kannada daily – received the cash and reportedly conversed with their CEO over the same and collectively decided to return the money.

They are said to have written to the CM, expressing their dissatisfaction over the same. Pagoji has allegedly apologized for the overtures. Other scribes also reportedly returned the amounts they received. JSP co-president Adarsh R Iyer said that it was telling that only a few journalists had returned the alleged bribe.

“We came to know about it today. So we quickly prepared the complaint. Since it was a little bit late, around 4:45 (in the evening), we just sent it over e-mail to both Karnataka Lokayukta as well as the ADGP of the Karnataka Lokayukta police. So we would be going tomorrow and submitting the complaint,” he said.

The complaints demand the claims be investigated under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and the 2018 amendment. Iyer went so far as to claim that large sections of the media were ignoring critique