Bharat Lal Meena turns 'hostile'

In an unusual turn of events, IAS officer Bharat Lal Meena turned hostile in the trial of two BBMP officials, who had been arrested by the Lokayukta police for taking bribe.

Meena, who appeared in the Special Lokayukta Court on Monday to depose as a prosecution witness for the sanctioning authority, claimed that he had accorded sanction for prosecution of two officials under the BBMP Act and Anti Corruption Act (these Acts do not exist).

The sanction is accorded under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Meena, who has accorded sanction in several cases during his tenure as Commissioner of BBMP from June 2009 to June 2010, stated that he had accorded sanction under the two fictitious Acts.

So adamant was he upon this stand that the Court finally asked him, “How do you understand Section 7 and Section 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act?” However, Meena replied that he had accorded sanction under these sections.

After this, the Court allowed the Special Public Prosecutor to cross examine him on the same.

The Lokayukta Court is conducting the trial of two BBMP employees, Yathiraj, tax assessor and Anthony Raj, a second division assistant, who were trapped in February 2009 for accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000.