"Karnataka Lokayukta chief Santosh Hegde resigns - disgusted over Government's inaction"

Bangalore, June 23 (IANS) Karnataka Lokayukta (ombudsman) N. Santosh Hegde Wednesday quit his post frustrated at the state government's indifference to the institution set up to curb corruption in bureaucracy. "I have suffered mentally. There are several instances to show how the government has ignored or deliberately overruled or shown indifference to the institution," Hegde told a press conference after resigning, a year ahead of the end of his five-year term.  Hegde referred to one case where a cabinet minister wanted an officer to be suspended because the latter's probe had exposed that more than 3.5 million tonnes of iron ore was illegally exported causing massive revenue loss to the government. Sounds like a friend of Bellary Reddy brothers! Since he took over in August 2006, Hegde has conducted more than 100 raids to unearth disproportionate assets of various officials across Karnataka. Most of the officials exposed by the raids have been suspended, several of them reinstated while conviction has been very few. Hegde and his predecessor, N. Venkatachala had been pressing the government to give them power to initiate probe into corrupt officers on their own. Now they can do so only if they receive a complaint against an official.