Shri K. Ramachandrappa vs State of Karnataka

V. Jagannathan, J.—Heard both sides in respect of bail sought by the Petitioner who is said to be A-1 in the case registered in Cr. No. 1/11 for the offences punishable under Sections 7, 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The case against the accused person in short is that, the complainant approached the Petitioner, who at the relevant time was working as Joint Director in the Department of Employment and Training and the complainant approached the Petitioner in connection with salary grant accorded by the Government to the employees of the ITI which was run by the complainant and in this connection, the Petitioner is said to have demanded Rs. 10 lakhs as illegal gratification and out of that. Rs. 2 lakhs was received by the Petitioner about two months prior to the complaint and balance of Rs. 8 lakhs was received through A-2 and A-2 was trapped by the Lokayuktha police on the information given by the complainant.

Petitioner''s counsel submits that, no recovery was made from A-1 nor his hands were immersed in the solution and apart from that, the offence is not punishable with death or life imprisonment and moreover, the Petitioner is not required in police custody. The Petitioner is also a diabetic patient and suffering from hypertension. Therefore, relying on several decisions of the Delhi High Court, learned Counsel sought for bail.

Submission of learned Counsel Sri. S.G. Rajendra Reddy for the Lokayuktha is that, this Petitioner received Rs. 2 lakhs earlier and Rs. 8 lakhs was received by him through A-2 in order to release of salary grant to the employees of the complainant institution. Under these circumstances, grant of bail is not warranted and moreover one more case is pending against the Petitioner in Cr. No. 53/10.

Having thus heard both sides and particularly taking note of the grounds put forward by the Petitioner''s counsel and also having regard to the punishment prescribed for the alleged offences, and grant of bail to A-2 earlier by this Court in Crl.P. No. 358/11, in my view, the Petitioner can be released on bail by imposing conditions.

In the result, the petition is allowed by imposing the following conditions:

The Petitioner shall be released on bail on his executing a personal bond for Rs. 25,000/- with two sureties for the likesum to the satisfaction of the trial court.

He shall not hamper the investigation and shall not give threat to the prosecution witnesses in any manner.

He shall mark his attendance before the jurisdictional police on every Saturday between 10.00 a.m. and 5 00 p.m.

He shall appear before the trial court on all the dates of hearing without fail.

He shall not involve in offences of like nature in future.