Bangalore: A private complaint was on Monday filed before Karnataka Lokayukta against Textiles Minister Varathur Prakash accusing him of amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income, Lokayukta sources said.
The complaint against the minister, who is an independent MLA from Kolar district, was filed before the Registrar Lokayukta, by BM Shankare Gowda, a resident of Kolar, the sources told a news agency.
The complainant charged Prakash with furnishing a "false declaration" before the State Election Commission, claiming there were disparities in the assets declared before the Commission and those declared before the Lokayukta.
The complainant alleged that on September 03, 2007, Prakash registered a company by name Nithin Projects Private Limited.
Gowda claimed that in his assets declaration before the SEC in 2008, Prakash failed to disclose the registration of this firm. Prakash declared possession of 150 grams of gold by him and 500 grams of gold by his wife while showing his annual income to be nil.
In the same year, in his declaration before the Lokayukta, the minister allegedly disclosed possession of only 10 kgs of silver, making no mention of the gold possessed by him and his wife.
Two years later, while declaring his assets before the Lokayukta, he disclosed possessing 500 grams of gold and an year later, declared registration of the said firm and showed his annual income to be Rs 14.50 lakh, which he had not declared previously either before the SEC or the Lokayukta.
Reacting to the complaint, Prakash termed as a "political conspiracy" by his detractors and said he would sue the complainant.
PTI
