BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash a corruption case against AB Vijaya Kumar, joint director of municipal administration, who has been booked in a rare case of ‘reverse trap’ by the Lokayukta police.
Kumar was allegedly caught while returning Rs 3 lakh he had received as a bribe from a complainant, a priest, under the pretext of making a ‘donation to the temple’. The incident occurred while Kumar was serving as the special land acquisition officer (SLAO) in the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB).
Justice M Nagaprasanna dismissed Kumar’s petition, challenging the FIR registered under Sections 7(a) and 7(A) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, in 2022 and the subsequent proceedings. The court observed that a ‘reverse trap’ refers to a situation where a bribe-taker returns the illegal gratification to the bribe-giver, often for complex reasons.
Kumar had argued that Section 7 of the Act does not cover the return of “undue advantage”. The court, however, rejected this contention, stating that the facts of the case, involving the demand, acceptance and subsequent return of the bribe, were laid out in the complaint and supported by the pre-trap and trap mahazars.
According to the complainant, Bhagath Singh Arun, he needed a no objection certificate (NOC) from KIADB to obtain the RTC for the land on which the ancient Shri Dinne Duggalamma temple stood at Laggere. Kumar, then serving as SLAO-II at KIADB, along with others, allegedly demanded Rs 4 lakh for the NOC.
Despite paying Rs 2.5 lakh to one Somanna, who was allegedly sent by Kumar, the NOC was not issued. The complainant later filed a complaint with the special deputy commissioner of KIADB. Kumar then allegedly asked the priest to withdraw the complaint and agreed to return the bribe under the guise of donating the amount to the temple.