Govt woke up only after officer’s death

BANGALORE: Netas of the ruling party are so busy politicking that they had little time to spare for an upright officer who was attacked for seeking to implement the rule of law. The consequence: in the absence of any political pressure, police are floundering in their investigation into the murderous attack on SP Mahantesh, deputy director, Directorate of cooperative audit, though five days have elapsed since the incident.
Neither chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda, who holds the cooperation portfolio, nor home minister R Ashoka deemed it necessary to call on the officer when he was battling for life in hospital from Tuesday. On Sunday morning, the officer succumbed to injuries he had suffered in the assault.
The government swung into action belatedly, only when news of Mahantesh’s death broke. Gowda rushed to the residence of the deceased but had to face his hostile relatives and locals who gheraoed him for the failure of the police to nab the culprits.
“He (Mahantesh) was a good officer. It should not have happened. Steps will be taken to protect whistleblowers and honest officers. We have set up crack teams to nab the culprits,” Gowda said.
Asked about the measures the government would be adopting to ensure the safety of officers dealing with sensitive files, the chief minister maintained that something like this should not happen in future. “The government will do whatever it takes. We have to come up with some fresh measures to protect good officers ,” he said.
When contacted, Ashoka said he was hopeful the accused would be arrested soon.
HE HELD SENSITIVE JOB
The directorate of cooperative audit is a watchdog established to ensure that the objectives of the cooperative sector are met. The audits by the directorate look beyond the routine audit, and focus on administrative lapses, deviation by the management from byelaws and discharge of responsibilities by the board of directors and other executive staff.
As deputy director (Bangalore Urban), Mahantesh held a crucial post as over 150 housing cooperative societies in the city came under him.
A son-in-law of an influential JD(S) leader served in the post for over five years prior to Mahantesh. Lakshman V Savadi, then cooperation minister , is said to have brought in Mahantesh about two years ago as part of an effort to go deep into irregularities committed by housing societies.
Insiders in the directorate said that Mahantesh was handing sensitive information as he was in charge of the city’s controversial housing societies . “A known RTI activist had flooded the directorate with RTI queries, seeking information on housing societies, and Mahantesh was handling these matters,” sources in the Karnataka Cooperative Audit Services said.