Excise minister M.P. Renukacharya has come out unscathed in the “Johnnie Walker” allegation, leveled against him by Deputy Commissioner Excise (East) L.N. Mohan Kumar. The Lokayukta police, in their preliminary investigation report submitted to the Lokayukta court, have stated that there is no direct evidence to corroborate the statement made by the tainted DC Excise. The court on Monday posted further hearing in the case to April 16.
The officer, who was raided on March 22, told the Lokayukta special court judge that one of the bottles, a 4.5-litre Johny Walker scotch, found in his possession was bought by him as per the directions of minister Renukacharya. It was one of the 24 bottles seized from him and it was sent to a resort where the minister was holed up with other supporters of former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa last month. Another bottle (Double Black) was kept as per the directions of DC (south) Mallikarjuna Gaddi, three bottles came from the defence canteen for quality certification and the rest were part of a seizure. The defence department clarified that it has its own laboratory and never sent any bottles to state labs.
The Lokayukta police found that the 4.5-litre bottle was bought at Total Drops Spirit, a wholesale wine store in Indiranagar, on March 21, a day after Mr Yeddyurappa’s supporters left for the resort. The police have recovered an invoice in the name of DC excise (east) for the bottle. The staff at the shop said that a local excise inspector took the bottle from the shop.
The Lokayukta police summoned Excise Minister Renukacharya and questioned him for three hours. But the minister denied that he had asked the DC to deliver liquor to the resort. He also stated that all the MLAs and ministers left the resort on March 20 to attend the session. The police have also screened the call details of the minister and the DC. Though it was found that the calls were made on March 21 and the next day, on the day of the raid the DC had contacted the minister, but spoke only to talk to his personal assistant.
The minister said that he called all the DCs on March 21 for clarification on a subject pertaining to the session. The Lokayukta police said that though no evidence was found against the minister, the investigation is still on. Special Court Judge N.K. Sudhindra Rao said that since the accused (DC Excise) has made the submission before the court further investigation could be necessary.