A former assistant commissioner of police in the CCB has been cleared of corruption and extortion charges by the high court, which called the case “an abuse of the process of law” and the “result of infighting in the police force”.
Prabhu Shankar, currently a deputy superintendent of police, and two inspectors of the CCB’s Economic Offences Wing were booked and later suspended for extorting money from traders during the lockdown last year.
They had allegedly taken bribes from a Banaswadi firm which manufactured substandard facemasks and from cigarette distributors to let them do business during the lockdown.
Shankar moved the high court. In particular, he argued that FIRs were registered against him with the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in the same case even after the high court stayed the investigation.
Justice H P Sandesh noted that while no bait money had been recovered from Shankar, records show that officials had created mahazar documents. The aggrieved person did not file a complaint, and the cases were registered suo motu, the judge said.
The registration of cases in the regular police station as well as in the ACB is nothing but a result of infighting among officers of the department and an act of vengeance, the court observed.
When the public prosecutor cited the Supreme Court order in the PP Sharma case to argue that quashing the FIR against Shankar amounts to killing a stillborn child, Justice Sandesh remarked that the child should be born legally, not by creating documents with malicious intent.
“If this court fails to exercise powers conferred under section 482 CrPC, it will be failing in duty to prevent the abuse of process of law, which leads to miscarriage of justice.
"The cases are registered with the ulterior motive for wrecking vengeance on the accused and hence, this court comes to the conclusion that it is nothing but an abuse of process,” the court said.
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Published 22 September 2021, 19:35 IST