Rajya Sabha Election Bribery Row: Karnataka High Court Stays Probe Against Four Accused Of Trying To Bribe Odisha Congress MLAs

The Karnataka High Court on Friday (April 24) stayed investigation in an FIR against four men accused of attempting to bribe Odisha Congress MLAs to vote in favour of a BJP candidate during the Rajya Sabha elections conducted in March.

The single judge bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna has also asked the State to place on record the entire details regarding the case before the next date of hearing on June 4.

The court noted that there was 'no demand or acceptance' in the present case and thus Section 7A (1) (a public servant demanding or accepting undue advantage or bribe to perform their duty improperly or dishonestly] of the Prevention of Corruption Act would not be "prima facie" attracted.

The court also noted that the police had deleted offence under Section 140(1) BNS (kidnapping with intent to murder or for ransom) from the FIR at the time of production before the magistrate, leaving behind only non-cognizable offences.

“…. the offence is blown by including section 140(1) of BNS. The petitioners are taken into custody. Later, Section 140 BNS stands deleted. What remains are non-cognisable offences. The petitioner submits that offence under Section 7A is also not attracted since there is no demand nor acceptance…It only revolves around bribery during election, which is non-cognisable. For that, the ingredients under Section 171(C) of IPC [undue influence at elections] must be met. The said ingredients are also prima facie not met. Therefore, till learned SPP secures records of the case and places it before the court, further investigation would remain stayed”, the court noted in the order.

During the hearing today, advocate Angad Kamath appearing for the petitioners argued that the allegation in the present case is not that the Petitioners 'accepted' or 'attempted to obtain' any undue advantage from some third person to influence a public servant. The allegation is of a direct offer allegedly made to legislators to cross-vote, he said.

“Section 7A is for someone who receives or takes money…Demand and acceptance are essential…”, he added. He said that the BJP, having 79 MLAs in the Odisha assembly, had proposed two candidates and did not even require cross-voting to emerge victorious, making the allegation of attempted bribery implausible.

However, Additional Special Public Prosecutor appearing for the State maintained that there was CCTV footage showing one of the accused passing a blank cheque to a Congress MLA, which has been recovered.

Earlier this week the court had directed the police not to take any coercive steps against the petitioners till the next date of hearing. 

Background

The petitioners include a lawyer from Odisha, a former real estate company CEO and two businessmen who have claimed in the petition that they were scouting for a plot to establish a hotel in Karnataka by availing the legal assistance of the first petitioner. It is stated that they were staying at Wonderla Hotel and Resort in Bidadi.

The plea states that, meanwhile, elections to the Rajya Sabha from the State of Odisha were scheduled for 16.03.2026 and in the run to the elections, the Congress had shifted some of its MLAs to the same resort in Bidadi, on an apprehension that attempts were being made to influence or poach them.

The plea claims that on 15.03.2026, while the petitioners were at the restaurant in the resort, some persons confronted them on the allegation that Petitioner No.1 was attempting to financially entice MLAs from Odisha. The petitioners stated that police thereafter restrained them and kept them in custody. The plea states that they were then informed that Respondent No.2, Ashok Kumar Das, Deputy Leader of the Congress Party, Odisha, had lodged a complaint against them.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was lodged under Sections 173(punishment for bribery), 62(punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment), 352(intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace), 351(2) (criminal intimidation) read with 3(5) (common intention) BNS and Sections 7A and 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act on 15-3-2026. Notably, the petitioners were granted regular bail on March 23.

The petitioners had approached the high court seeking quashing of the FIR. They have argued that the FIR narrative itself is confined to an alleged election-related inducement/threat episode at the resort, yet the matter was converted into a wider cognizable prosecution.

According to the petitioners, the police has wrongly charged them for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and BNS, 2023.

Case Title: Mr. Birendra Prasad and Others vs. The State of Karnataka and Another

Case No: Crl P No. 6091 of 2026