A senior IAS officer in Karnataka who is being investigated for corruption by the Lokayukta – following the seizure of Rs 4.37 crore in cash, 2.5 kg of gold and diamonds, and documents for dozens of properties from a north Bengaluru flat linked to his family – will now also be investigated for possession of child pornography.

This follows the discovery of “thousands of child pornography videos” on a 250 GB external hard disk that was found alongside the unaccounted wealth seized by the Karnataka CID police during an August 5, 2015 raid on a sixth floor apartment in the plush Golden Grand property in north Bengaluru. The flat is held in the name of PSK Finance Solutions Pvt Ltd – a firm run by 1990 batch Karnataka IAS officer Kapil Mohan’s father Naresh Mohan and son Ahaan Mohan.

Following the discovery of the child pornography videos the Lokayukta police who are investigating the corruption charges against the IAS official and his family firm have now referred the seized hard drive to the Bangalore police for filing of an FIR under sections of the Information Technology Act that deal with child pornography. “We have registered a case under section 67 B of the IT Act against the owners of the apartment where the material was seized on the basis of a report given by the Lokayukta police who found child pornographic videos in the hard disk found in the apartment,” the deputy commissioner of police (north) T R Suresh said.

Sources in the know of the developments said that the pornographic material is suspected to belong to the IAS officer Kapil Mohan since the 250 GB hard drive on which the child pornography was found also contained photographs, marks cards and personal documents of the IAS officer. “The hard drive has been forensically examined and the material found on it includes marks cards, documents, pictures of the official and thousands of child porn videos,” sources familiar with the investigations so far said.

Sources in the CID police confirmed that investigators had found child pornography material on DVDs and an external hard drive seized in the August 5 raid on flat number 602 in the Maple Block of the Golden Grand apartments in north Bengaluru. “Our investigators reported that there was child pornography on the seized material but this was not mentioned in the mahazar. Only the seizure of the hard disk along with cash, gold etc. is recorded in the mahazar,” a CID official said.

“Possession of child pornography is an offence under section 67 B of the Information Technology Act. The IAS officer and his family members who are the directors of the firm PSK Finance Solutions which owns the flat are answerable for the seizures. The amount of child pornography material found indicates the presence of a perverted mind. It needs further investigation,” police sources said.

The IAS officer Kapil Mohan who is at present the principal secretary in the youth empowerment and sports ministry of the Karnataka government has claimed that he has had nothing to do with multiple firms run by his 76-year-old father Naresh Mohan and 21-year-old son Ahaan Mohan. He has remained in service despite the ongoing corruption investigations against him.

The Lokayukta investigation has found that companies like PSK Finance Solutions run by the family of the IAS officer are companies that only exist in name. The Lokayukta police have so far arrested Jaishiv Saxen an associate of the IAS officer for trying to protect Kapil Mohan by falsely claiming the wealth seized at the Golden Garden flat. Lokayukta investigations have found that Rs 4.37 crore in case was withdrawn from different bank accounts and was not proceeds of stake sales in an IT company as claimed by Saxena.

Investigations have also revealed that firms linked to Kapil Mohan received huge loans from companies allotted contracts by the state-run Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) where Mohan was the managing director. Promoters of Dishaa Power Corporation Pvt Ltd, a Bangalore firm, that was awarded multiple small hydro projects around the state for generation of 35 MW deposited a total of Rs 1.75 crore with PSK Finance Solutions Pvt Ltd documents from KREDL and the RoC have revealed.

In turn, in March this year, PSK Finance Solutions allotted shares valued at Rs 1.25 crore to Gemini Shares and Stocks Private Limited, where Dishaa Power Corporation director Naveen Patil was a director as well. PSK has claimed that the shares were transferred against loans.

Apart from PSK Finance another company run by Kapil Mohan’s father and son the Kolkata based Millenium Vinimay also received large loans from firms such as Divyasree Infrastructure Projects (Rs 5 crore). One of the directors of Divyashree Infrastructure Projects, Bhaskar N Raju, is also a share holder in Dishaa Power Corporation where the majority of stake is held by a Hong Kong firm called Rainbow Energy Ltd.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Bangalore News, download Indian Express App.

© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd