Jail term for BDA engineer, BBMP clerk for graft

The Special Lokayukta Court on Thursday sentenced two government officers to jail term after charges of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act were proved against them.

R Nagendra, an assistant engineer with Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), was sentenced to 14 months and 8 months of rigorous imprisonment for accepting a bribe of Rs 4,000.

He was also slapped a fine of Rs 3,500.

In 2002, P Subramanian, had approached the BDA office in Indiranagar to obtain permission for cutting the road, so he could instal lines for electricity and drainage for his son’s apartment.

However, Nagendra demanded Rs 4,000 as bribe for giving the permission.
Though the sanction for prosecuting Nagendra was challenged, Special Public Prosecutor K K Sitaram proved that the sanction given was legitimate.

In another case, a second division clerk of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was sentenced to 6 months in prison under Sections 7 and 1 year in prison under Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Rs 1,500 as bribe

H Manjunath was convicted for accepting a bribe of Rs 1,500 from one Nagaraj, a resident of Yelahanka.

Six months before Manjunath was trapped, Nagaraj had applied for change of khata for the house he was living in, at the office of the Deputy Commissioner of BBMP in Yelahanka.

After denying him the service, Manjunath asked for Rs 2,000 to get the job done, but later scaled it down to Rs 1,500 after Nagaraj told him he could not pay so much money.

Manjunath was arrested by the Lokayukta police after he accepted the money.

Though, no traces of powder phenolphthalein coated on the bribe money was found on his hands initially, Special Public Prosecutor K Mahalakshmi proved that Manjunath had handled the currency notes with his thumb and index finger and kept it in his cupboard, as it was borne out by chemical examination test.

She had further argued that Manjunath was a habitual offender, who was well aware of the consequences of accepting bribe money and had hence exercised utmost caution. Manjunath was also imposed a fine of Rs 600.