What Transpired at K’taka Lokayukta’s Office When He Was Stabbed?

According to the visitors’ log, the accused Thejaraj Sharma had entered the building at 12:45 pm on Wednesday.

According to the visitors’ log, accused Thejaraj Sharma had entered the building at 12:45 pm on Wednesday.

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

Around 1:30 pm on Wednesday, 7 March, Purushottam and his colleague, both gunmen posted outside the chambers of Justice Vishwanath Shetty, the Lokayukta of Karnataka, heard screams from the room.

As they rushed in, along with others who had been waiting or walking through the corridor, they saw was a man holding the Lokayukta, with a knife in his hands.

Purushottam started yelling, pointing his gun at the attacker Thejaraj Sharma.

"I could not see properly as Purushottam was blocking my view. But I heard him tell the attacker to drop the weapon or he would shoot", a staffer who had rushed into the room told The News Minute.

Soon, people who had gathered in the room disarmed Sharma and took him away from the Lokayukta's chambers.

As some of the staffers crowded around the Lokayukta trying to move him out to the hospital, others locked Sharma in a room in the building.

According to the visitors’ log, the accused had entered the building at 12:45 pm on Wednesday. The absence of security personnel with frisking devices made it easy for him to sneak in a kitchen knife, police said.

Sharma then went up to the second floor, where the Lokayukta’s chambers are located and waited to be called in. Around 1:20 pm, he handed over his appointment chit to one of the gunmen stationed outside the chamber. Eight minutes later, Sharma was called into Justice Shetty’s chamber.

The attacker was behind Justice Shetty when he stabbed him. Thejaraj stabbed the Lokayukta partially on the right side and that is when Justice Shetty screamed. The gunman then came in and threatened to shoot the attacker.

Police official

Jayanna, a lawyer, who was present in the building during the incident told The News Minute, “I was looking through some case files. At that time, I was not facing his room. I heard some commotion. By the time I went in and looked around, Justice Shetty had fallen to the ground. Meanwhile, close to seven to eight persons got hold of the stabber and locked him inside a room till the police came".

Nikhil, a bank employee and another eyewitness, said he was in the lobby connecting the quasi-judicial hall and Lokayukta’s chamber when the crime occurred. “I gave water to Justice Shetty till the ambulance arrived. Within ten minutes, the ambulance and the cops came one after the other”, he said.

Complaints Dismissed by Lokayukta

Hailing from Rajasthan, Sharma runs a furniture outlet in Tumakuru.

Sources told The News Minute that he had filed four petitions with the Lokayukta in connection with bribes he had allegedly paid to 15 officials to secure government tenders.

Having failed to win the tenders despite the alleged bribes, he had earlier approached the Lokayukta. However, his complaints were dismissed by the Lokayukta in December 2017. Since then, sources say that Sharma visited the Lokayukta at least three to four times until Wednesday’s stabbing.

(This article was originally published on The News Minute and has been republished here with permission.)