I just obeyed BBMP chief's orders: IAS officer in dock over votegate

Senior IAS officer and BBMP Special Commissioner (Administration) S Rangappa, who has been suspended in the votegate scandal, was questioned by the police for the second time on Wednesday.

In his defence, he said he only obeyed the instructions of the BBMP chief commissioner.

According to him, workers of Chilume Educational, Cultural and Rural Development Institute were issued ID cards and sent to households to collect voter data along with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs). He denied that he was involved in any irregularities.

Another IAS officer K Srinivas, who was posted as Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner, didn't appear for questioning. He's likely to appear before the investigating officer on Friday, a police source said.

Rangappa and Srinivas had previously appeared before the police on December 3 and sought time to answer their questions.

Police subsequently issued both of them a second notice, summoning them for questioning on Wednesday. Accordingly, Rangappa visited the Halasuru Gate police station and gave his statement.

Police sources said Rangappa answered almost all the questions asked by inspector Jagadish R and produced some documents in support of his claims.

Police are verifying the documents and will decide later whether or not to question him again.

"We are yet to verify his claims and documents," a senior police officer said and refused to give more details.