2 days after Lokayukta raid on son, no sign of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa

DAVANAGERE, BENGALURU: Channagiri MLA Madal Virupakshappa, whose son Prashanth Madal was caught red-handed by the Lokayukta police accepting Rs 40 as bribe, has remained untraceable since Thursday evening. Virupakshappa has been named as the main accused in the cash seizure case while his son is the main accused in the trap case.

During the Lokayukta raid on Thursday evening, a total of Rs 2.02 crore was found at Prashanth’s office and Rs 6.10 crore was found at his residence in Sanjaynagar in Bengaluru. The Lokayukta police had arrested five people and produced them before a special court on Friday which sent them to judicial custody for 14 days.

Meanwhile, Virupakshappa, who is on the run, is believed to be talking to legal experts on the future course of action. He was expected to approach the special court for elected representatives in Bengaluru seeking bail.

The Lokayukta police searched the Channagiri house of MLA Madal Virupakshappa on Friday.

Interestingly, when the Lokayukta police searched his house at Channagiri on Friday, the family members had switched off the CCTV cameras on Wednesday itself. It is suspected that they may have moved out more cash from the house to a safe place.

The Lokayukta police have taken custody of the digital video recorder (DVR) to retrieve recordings. They had recovered Rs 16.5 lakh in cash, but returned Rs 1.5 lakh to Virupakshappa’s wife Neelamma towards household expenses, and took her signature. They also made a record of the gold and silver jewellery and articles and returned it to her.