Check the call records of the Excise department between March 19 and 21 to get to the bottom of the truth, Deputy Commissioner, Excise (East), L.N. Mohan Kumar, told the Special Lokayukta court in his submission. “The duration of the calls, several times during those three days, makes it clear that the minister had instructed (excise officers) for foreign liquor,” Mr. Kumar has stated. Mr. Kumar was on March 22 arrested by the Lokayukta police after they seized around 20 bottles of liquor and Rs 25,000 cash from his office. He had told the police that the seized bottles were meant for Excise Minister M.P. Renukacharya, who along with other MLAs and former chief minister B.S. Yedyurappa, was holed up at Golden Palm resort.
Mr. Renukacharya, when quizzed by the police, had said he used to call the deputy commissioners to discuss the state budget, a contention that has been challenged by Mr. Kumar. “The Excise minister discusses the budget with the excise commissioner and joint commissioner and not with deputy commissioners,” the accused officer has stated. Mr Kumar has challenged the investigation by the Lokayukta police done at “top speed and haste… giving room for suspicion.”
Mr Kumar has also alleged that the other deputy commissioners, excise in the city and the Excise Inspector, Ashok Nagar, who were also raided that day, had stocked liquor bottles to be sent to Mr. Renukacharya. But they were spared by the Lokayukta police after they told them that the bottles were “gifts”.