The Supreme Court has cancelled the anticipatory bail granted to a Karnataka cadre IPS officer, Srinath Joshi Mahadev, in an alleged corruption case linked to an alleged extortion racket in the name of Lokayukta officials.

A bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva allowed the Karnataka Lokayukta Police appeal against the High Court's order granting pre-arrest bail to Joshi. The Court said that Joshi, being the Superintendent of Police of the Lokayukta Police when the alleged offence is said to have been committed, cannot claim parity with the layman, as the corruption and abuse of office allegations levelled against him warranted serious consideration.

“The inescapable fact is that the respondent is a member of the uniformed service and is of the rank of no less than the Superintendent of Police. Grave accusations have been levelled against him in the context of his alleged abuse of office within the establishment of the Lokayuktha. As the very objective of the Lokayuktha's establishment is to check corruption, the allegation against the respondent to the effect that he is himself a part of such corruption, warranted serious consideration. Being a member of a uniformed service, the respondent cannot claim parity with a layman, who seeks protection from being arraigned as an accused in a criminal case and being investigated/arrested in connection therewith.”, the Court said.

According to the Court, the High Court has committed an error in granting anticipatory bail to Joshi, ignoring vital materials procured by the prosecution which required a deeper examination to rule out a possibility of a custodial interrogation with Joshi. Importantly, one Ningappa Savantha, accused No. 1, who was a police constable (since dismissed from service), was allegedly in touch with Joshi and used to visit his office.

“Given the material procured by the prosecution, which warranted deeper examination, the High Court was not justified in foreclosing the possibility of custodial interrogation by granting anticipatory bail to the respondent.”, the Court observed.

“We, therefore, set aside the order passed by the High Court granting anticipatory bail to the respondent and direct him to surrender within a period of three weeks from the date of this order. He would be at liberty to seek regular bail, thereafter, in accordance with law before the appropriate forum. The appeal is, accordingly, allowed.”, the Court held.

For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Vikram Hegde, AOR Mr. Trishan Dollny, Adv. Mr. Akshit Singla, Adv.

For Respondent(s) : Mr. Gaurav Aggarwal, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sanjay Jain- 1299, AOR Mr. Shankar Hegde, Adv. Mr. Sunny Sachin Rawat, Adv.