BENGALURU: Former Bengaluru Urban deputy commissioner J Manjunath, arrested in a bribery case, has moved the Supreme Court, alleging a media trial after Karnataka High Court's Justice HP Sandesh made "unwarranted remarks" while hearing the bail plea of an accused in the matter and later claimed to have received a threat of transfer.
Justice Sandesh had asked why Manjunath, the then Bengaluru Urban DC, was not made an accused in the bribery case involving Deputy Tahsildar Mahesh PS who worked in his office. The judge had termed the state’s Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) a "collection centre" and its Addl DGP Seemanth Kumar Singh a "tainted officer".
The HC judge, who was hearing Mahesh's bail plea, also claimed to have received a threat of transfer after his adverse remarks and had widened the scope of hearing while considering the bail plea.
A bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli, which is already seized of two separate appeals of the ACB and the ADGP against the high court's observations, on July 12 had requested the court to defer the hearing in the matter for three days.
Manjunath, who was remanded to custody, has also moved the top court against the remarks and sought an urgent hearing, saying some of the observations were made against him without giving him an opportunity.
'Remarks have bearing on fair probe'
The plea stated, "The HC has lost sight of the fact that such remarks at nascent stages of investigation have a disastrous bearing on the fair probe and judicious conclusion of the criminal proceedings, including my right to remedy of bail" and added that the former DC has been subjected to media trial due to these remarks.
Manjunath was arrested on July 4 and the sessions court had dismissed his bail application on July 11. The state government and Seemanth Kumar Singh had earlier filed separate petitions against the high court’s order and observations. The Addl DGP, in his separate plea, had sought expunction of adverse remarks made by Justice Sandesh and a stay on the proceedings in the HC.