The Karnataka Lokayukta on Tuesday carried out raids at several locations after registering a case against officials of the Karnataka Slum Development Board and a private contractor over alleged large-scale irregularities and fake billing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)–2022 in Ramdurg town of Belagavi district.
Simultaneous raids were conducted at the Slum Board office in Hindalga, Belagavi, the residence of retired assistant executive engineer Shambulingappa BS in Hubballi, the NPCC office in Bengaluru, and the houses of other accused persons including Girimallappa Jogur, Kiran Hosakoti and Rindanagouda Shekargouda Patil in Vijayapura and Bagalkot districts.
Lokayukta officials said several important documents were seized during the raids and further investigation is underway.
According to the preliminary investigation, officials allegedly joined hands with the contractor to create fake work bills for houses that were never built for beneficiaries in notified slum areas under the “Housing for All” scheme. These bills were reportedly processed through official channels and payments were released.
The accused include retired assistant executive engineer Shambulingappa BS, contractor Prasad NP of National Projects Construction Corporation Ltd, and other officials connected with the project.
Investigators also found major procedural lapses, including failure to conduct proper site inspections and absence of GPS-based photographic proof of completed works. Despite this, the works were shown as completed, leading to release of payments.
Records show that 13 partial bills were submitted between March 29, 2019 and June 12, 2023. Based on these bills, around ₹29.4 crore was released between April 2019 and November 2024.
Officials said materials worth around ₹6.1 crore were supplied to nearly 600 beneficiaries, while the remaining ₹23.3 crore is suspected to have been misappropriated.