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‘Evil of corruption deep rooted in system’: Bengaluru special court fines retired govt officer Rs 4.5 crore, awards him 3-year jail time
In 2014, the Karnataka Lokayukta conducted a raid on the properties of the then managing director of the Karnataka Council for Technological Upgradation and filed a case against him.
The court also made remarks against the investigating agency over “lapses” in the investigation.
A special court recently fined a former managing director of Karnataka Council for Technological Upgradation (KCTU) of Rs 4.5 crore and awarded him three years of imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case.
In 2014, the Karnataka Lokayukta had conducted a raid on the properties of the convict, V Muniyappa, now 72, and filed a case against him.
On Saturday, the XXIII Additional City Civil and Sessions Court and Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act), Bengaluru, sentenced Muniyappa for possessing assets worth Rs 4.13 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income – amounting to 170.38 per cent excess.
The Lokayukta had filed the case considering his income between December 9, 1982, and July 15, 2014. During this period, the prosecution alleged that Muniyappa accumulated total assets worth Rs 5.45 crore, with expenditure of Rs 1.88 crore, against a legitimate income of only Rs 2.42 crore. The net disproportionate assets were computed at Rs 4.13 crore.
Muniyappa’s counsel argued that several properties were acquired by a joint family. However, Judge K M Radhakrishna observed that it was manufactured and unsupported by evidence. The court noted that a lawsuit filed by the accused’s brother appeared to have been orchestrated to create a false paper trail and dismissed the claim.
In the order, Judge Radhakrishna said, “The conduct of the accused being a public servant in illegally accumulating the assets disproportionate, to his known source of an income warrants, the stringent punishment in the atmosphere where the evil of corruption has been deep rooted in the system.
“So that, the stringent punishment would be the lesson to the officials involved in the corrupt activities. Having regard to the larger interest of the society involved in the offence of socio-economic in nature and its impact, I am of the opinion that, extending the benefit of leniency would not be the justification.”
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The court also made remarks against the investigating agency over “lapses” in the investigation. Highlighting the lapses, the court said, “This kind of conscious lapses not only helps the real culprits to escape, but also ends the cases in acquittal. These lapses are because of the lack of time-to-time supervision, scrutiny, and control over the investigation by the superiors concerned. These kinds of lapses have become common in majority of cases as observed by this Court. Unnecessary delay in the matter of investigation years together, the entrustment of the investigation responsibility in a single case to multiple officers, deciding the quality of investigation depending on the background, position and societal status of the true culprits, is another face of destroying the evidence.”
The court has issued notices to the investigating officer and other officials asking them to submit a report within 20 days explaining why disciplinary actions should not be recommended against them for their respective lapses.
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