Corruption Rampant In Govt Offices, No File Moves Without 'Bribe': Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has observed that nowadays, in Government offices, corruption has become rampant and no file is moved without a 'bribe'.

A single judge bench of Justice K Natarajan made the observation while refusing bail to BT Raju, working as Assistant Engineer with the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). The Anti-Corruption Bureau had arrested him for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh.

"Nowadays, in the Government office, the corruption has become rampant and no file will be moved without any bribe. Therefore, I am of the view that the petitioner is not entitled for the grant of bail at this stage."

The complainant alleged that the BDA had utilised a land, held by him in the capacity of a GPA holder, for formation of road without any acquisition proceedings. He thus sought an alternate site from the authority. 

When an application in this regard was filed by the complainant, the petitioner-accused being the Assistant Engineer of BDA demanded an amount of Rs. 1 crore and the petitioner bargained to receive Rs. 60 lakhs and accordingly, Rs.5 lakhs were handed over by the defacto complainant. The petitioner was trapped by the ACB and the bribe amount was seized from his possession and he was arrested and remanded to judicial custody. His bail petition came to be rejected by the Special Judge and hence, the instant petition.  

The Petitioner submitted that he is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the case. It was contended that the original land owners filed an application on 08.06.2022 seeking alternative land and they withdrew the said application and therefore, prosecution has not made out any ground of demand and acceptance of bribe by the petitioner. Moreover, the concerned file was with the Additional Executive Engineer but not with this petitioner.

It was contended that mere acceptance of the amount cannot be a ground to show that the petitioner has demanded and accepted the bribe amount.

Prosecution opposed the plea saying that the complainant's file was moved after the arrest of the petitioner which clearly reveals that the file was with the petitioner and he has not passed any order for the last six months until the bribe amount was paid. Further, the conversation held between the petitioner and the defacto complainant has been transcribed which clearly reveals the demand made by the petitioner. The investigation is being conducted by the ACB and it is still pending and therefore, if the petitioner is granted bail, he may likely tamper with the prosecution witnesses or even abscond.

Findings:

The bench noted that admittedly, till trapping of the petitioner by the ACB, the file was lying with the petitioner and the copy of the file was seized by the Investigation Officer during the trap proceedings. The telephonic conversation was transcribed while lodging the complaint which reveals that the petitioner demanded the bribe and accordingly, the ACB trapped the petitioner and seized tainted notes.

It observed,

"The investigation is still under progress. The police are yet to receive some more information regarding voice sample report, FSL report etc. which reveals that there is a prima facie case made out by the prosecution at this stage to show that the petitioner has demanded and accepted the bribe amount. The enactment of work entrusted was also pending with him as on the date of trap."

Case Title: B T Raju And State of Karnataka

Case No: Criminal Petition 5614 of 2022

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Kar) 328

Date of Order: 03-08-2022

Appearance: Senior Advocate C V Nagesh for Advocate Raghavendra K for petitioner; Special Public Prosecutor Manmohan P N for respondent

Click Here To Read/Download Order