The Karnataka High Court has refused bail to a Bangalore official over corruption. (Representative)
Bangalore:
The Karnataka High Court has refused bail to an official of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), saying there was rampant corruption in government offices.
“Nowadays, corruption is rampant in the government office and no file will be played without bribe. Therefore, I am of the view that the petitioner is not entitled to grant bail at this stage,” the Justice said. K Natarajan while refusing bail to BT Raju, assistant engineer in the Bengaluru Development Authority.
The land of Suvlal Jain and Suresh Chand Jain was allegedly used by the Bangalore Development Authority for road without proper acquisition proceedings. An application was filed by his GPA (General Power of Attorney) holder Manjunath for an alternate site in lieu of the land.
Mr. Raju allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs one crore, reduced it to Rs 60 lakh and was caught red-handed on June 7, 2022, taking a bribe of Rs five lakh in cash.
The application was filed by Manjunath before the Bangalore Development Authority in November 2021, which was taken to the Additional Land Acquisition Officer and then to the Surveyor and then to the Executive Engineer (West), and finally to Mr. Raju on January 3, 2022 .
Mr Raju allegedly kept it pending till he was framed by the ACB and his arrest six months later.
ACB caught Raju taking bribe in the car. It had earlier acquired a call recording in which he had demanded a bribe.
Rejecting Raju’s bail plea, the High Court said, “Telephone conversations and hand-washing done by the ACB show that the petitioner had accepted the tainted notes in which the police had applied phenolphthalein powder.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)