S.S.NAGESH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these three petitions filed under section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are disposed of by a common order as they arise from Cr. No. 32/2020 registered by Anti Corruption Bureau, Bengaluru, in relation to offences punishable under sections 7(a) , 7A , 8 , 13(1)(c) of Prevention of Corruption Act.

(2.) Heard learned counsel for the petitioners namely Sri R.Nagendra Naik, Sri M.S.Bhagwat and Sri G.Papi Reddy, and Sri P.N.Manmohan for the respondent.

(3.) The prosecution case is that the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Anti Corruption Bureau, Bengaluru, directed the Police Inspector to inspect the office of Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation and give a report to him in regard to a credible information that he had received that some of the officers of the said Corporation in connivance with the middlemen had indulged in corruption by purchasing inferior quality lands for a higher price and were receiving commission, and that in connection with a transaction like this, a land had been purchased in Raichur District and file was ready for release of Rs.Eight Crore for which the officers of the Development Corporation had received Rs. Fifty Six Lakhs towards commission. The Police Inspector registered an FIR on this information. The Dy S.P. along with two independent witnesses conducted a search in the office of the said Corporation on 27.8.2020. During search the Dy S.P. could recover Rs.4,65,000/- from the table drawer of the petitioner in Crl. P. 4294/2020 and Rs.15,00,000/- which had been kept in a cloth bag behind the portrait of Maharshi Valmiki. The Dy S.P. questioned the petitioner in Crl.P.4729/2020 in regard to that amount and his explanation was that one Vikas from Chitradurga met and attempted to give him Rs.15,00,000/- but he did not receive it; probably he might have kept that amount behind the portrait without his knowledge. Then a brown colour envelope was found on the table of the petitioner in Crl.P.4300/2020. When the cover was opened, an amount of Rs.3,00,000/- was found in it. She gave an explanation that the Office Superintendent Subbappa gave that money to her and she had kept that money on her table. By writing a mahazar, the Dy S.P. seized these amounts.