K'taka HC reserves verdict on bail plea of IAS officer arrested in bribery case

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has reserved its judgement on a bail petition of IAS officer and former Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner J Manjunath.

The judgement is expected within two days.

He was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) police for allegedly accepting Rs 5 lakh as bribe in his office.

The case turned sensational after a High Court judge, hearing the bail plea of a deputy tahsildar, an accused in the case, summoned the service records of the ACB chief and the IAS officer.

Manjunath was arrested days after the judge Justice H P Sandesh, in the deputy tahsildar’s bail petition, asked why senior officers were not charged in the case.

Manjunath was arrested on July 4 and his bail plea before the Special Court, hearing the case, was rejected on July 11. He approached the High Court where Justice K Natarajan heard the petition.

The counsel on his behalf has argued that he was falsely implicated in the case after the High Court’s comments by way of an additional report.

Arguing for Manjunath on Monday, senior advocate H S Chandramouli said a file was pending before Manjunath, and it was not cleared as there were thousands of pending files, and the alleged bribe was paid and collected by others without the knowledge of the Deputy Commissioner.

The deputy tahsildar working in the Deputy Commissioner’s office and others are also accused in the case. The bribe was allegedly collected to give a favourable verdict in a land dispute.

The hearing of both the counsels for Manjunath and the ACB concluded today after which the court reserved its judgement.