Man stabs Karnataka lokayukta in his office

BENGALURU: Karnataka’s lokayukta Vishwanath Shetty was stabbed and injured at his office in Bengaluru on Wednesday, allegedly by a man angry over the official’s refusal to entertain his complaint, police said. Shetty is said to be out of danger. The accused was held.

BENGALURU: Karnataka’s lokayukta Vishwanath Shetty was stabbed and injured at his office in Bengaluru on Wednesday, allegedly by a man angry over the official’s refusal to entertain his complaint, police said.

Shetty, who sustained four stab wounds, is said to be out of danger at a local hospital where CM Siddaramaiah met him shortly after the incident. The accused, Tejaraj Sharma, was held after he was overpowered by the staff of the lokayukta’s office.

Sharma, 33, a private furniture supplier from Tumakuru in southeast Karnataka, was said to be angry with the lokayukta who allegedly did not heed his complaints about a local government office, police said. Sharma said he was not awarded contracts because of suspected corruption in the office. “During interrogation he (Sharma) revealed the lokayukta police dismissed his complaints as untrue,” police commissioner T Suneel Kumar said at a press briefing.

“He had visited the office around four times in the the past. It was premeditated and, hence, we have registered a case of attempted murder,” Kumar said.

The commissioner added a metal detector in the lobby of the building was not functioning and the gunman provided to the lokayukta was waiting outside the cabin.

The office register showed Sharma entering the government complex, known as the Multi-storey Building, at around 12.45pm to meet the lokayukta, which is tasked with probing corruption charges against public servants.

An employee in the lokayukta office, who did not wish to be named, said she heard screams from Shetty’s chamber around 1.45 pm. Staff rushed into the room immediately and the gunman overpowered Sharma.