BENGALURU: A city civil and sessions court granted anticipatory bail to Surya Nagar Police Station Inspector Victor Simon in connection with a case of illegal gratification. A trial court directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau to register a case against Simon following a private complaint by one of the partners of Ridri Hospitality Limited located in Kaikondrahalli in Bengaluru East in August 2019. Simon has been booked under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The complainant Sabbineni Subhash alleged that Niraj Jha, his co-partner at Ridri, had colluded with Simon to remove him from the company and had hatched a conspiracy to lodge a false complaint against him. Subhash alleged that Rs 1 crore from the company’s account had been transferred to Simon’s bank account in tranches of Rs 90 lakh and Rs 10 lakh on March 1, 2018, when he was Inspector of Bellandur Police Station, even though the firm had no business dealings with Simon.
According to Subhash’s complaint, Jha misappropriated funds and Simon received illegal gratification and misused his powers to implicate him in a false complaint.However, Simon’s counsel contended that his client was made a scapegoat in a dispute between Jha and Subhash and that Simon had entered into a legal agreement with the company for the lease of his property.
Simon’s counsel argued that when Jha approached the police, it was his duty as the station house officer of Bellandur to register a case and that he had not received illegal gratification.The public prosecutor urged the court to reject Simon’s anticipatory bail plea.After hearing the arguments, Judge Manjula Itty passed an order granting anticipatory bail to Simon on January 16, 2020, and imposed the condition that he execute a personal bond of a sum of Rs 2 lakh with two solvent sureties for the same amount. The court also directed that he surrender before the investigating officer on or before January 27. Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court stayed criminal proceedings against Simon.