Child porn charge follows corruption probe for Karnataka IAS officer

Child porn charge follows corruption probe for Karnataka IAS officer

Bangalore: "Thousands of child pornography videos" were discovered on a 250 GB external hard disk found during a Karnataka CID raid on August 5, 2015. The hard disk was found alongside the unaccounted wealth– Rs 4.37 crore in cash, 2.5 kg of gold and diamonds, and documents for dozens of properties– seized by the CID from 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.

The Lokayukta police, who are investigating the corruption charges against Mohan and his family have handed over the hard disk to the Bangalore police for filing 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," the deputy commissioner of police (north) T R Suresh told Indian Express.

The pornographic material was suspected to belong to Mohan since the confiscated hard drive 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 involved in the investigation claimed.

"Possession of child pornography is an offence under section 67 B of the Information Technology Act. The amount of child pornography material found indicates the presence of a perverted mind. It needs further investigation," said police sources.

Mohan, who is also the principal secretary in the youth empowerment and sports ministry of the Karnataka government, has claimed his non-involvement with the firms owned by his father and his son.

Upon investigation, it was discovered that companies like PSK Finance Solutions run by Mohan's family existed only in name. Jaishiv Saxena, an associate of the IAS officer, was arrested by the Lokayukta police for falsely claiming the wealth seized at the Golden Garden flat. Saxena claimed that the money seized came from stake sales in an IT company. However, the Lokayukta investigations uncovered that the Rs 4.37 crore was withdrawn from different bank accounts.

The firms linked to Mohan and his family received huge loans from companies which were allotted contracts by the state-run Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) where Mohan was the managing director. Dishaa Power Corporation Pvt Ltd is a Bangalore firm which was awarded multiple small hydro projects around the state for generating 35 MW. Documents from KREDL and the RoC revealed that the promoters of this company deposited a total of Rs 1.75 crore with PSK Finance.

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

Apart from PSK Finance, Millenium Vinimay in Kolkata, run by Mohan's father and son, also received large loans (Rs 5 crore) from firms such as Divyasree Infrastructure Projects. One of the Divyashree directors, 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.

(Inputs from Indian Express)

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