Supreme Court restores FIR and allows probe against IAS officer Manjunath in 2022 bribery case

Supreme Court reinstates FIR against IAS officer J. Manjunath, allowing bribery probe from 2022 involving Bengaluru Urban administration.

The Supreme Court has restored a First Information Report (FIR) registered against IAS officer J. Manjunath in an alleged bribery case, when he was serving as Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Bengaluru Urban in 2022.

With this order, the Lokayukta police can now continue the investigation, which was initiated by the erstwhile Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), against him and other accused persons.

A Bench of the apex court comprising Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice Manoj Misra passed the order on March 19 while setting aside two separate judgments of the High Court of Karnataka, which in 2023 quashed the FIR against Mr. Manjunath and Mahesh P.S, a deputy tahsildar working as Personal Assistant (PA) to the DC.

The High Court, while quashing the FIR against Mr. Manjunath in September 2023, had said that “there is neither circumstantial nor direct evidence, oral or documentary evidence, to substantiate that Mr. Manjunath demanded bribe through other two accused.”

In quashing the FIR against Mr. Mahesh in May 2023, the High Court had said that he had not received the alleged bribe from the complainant and audio recording was not clear to indicate that the bribe was demanded by Mr. Mahesh.

“...the High Court squarely exceeded its jurisdiction in appreciating the materials on record and concluding that the allegations are unfounded,” the apex court said.