High Court relief for constable who robbed Rs 5 lakh

A constable, who is accused of robbing Rs five lakh in cash brought by the Lokayukta police to trap the Station House Officer (SHO) of Kothanur police station in 2012, got relief from the High Court which stayed his prosecution on Thursday.

Justice K M Phaneendra stayed the prosecution of constable V Manjunath.

The incident had occurred on August 16, 2012, when the Lokayukta planned to trap the SHO, Purushotham. The attempt, however, failed and the Lokayukta sleuths left the bag of cash in the vehicle. The constable, who was attached to the Kothanur police station, allegedly came on a bike and made off with the bag of cash. But he surrendered himself to the police a few months later.

Both the Lokayukta police and the Kothanur police booked him for the offence. While the Lokayukta police booked him for accepting illegal gratification under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Kothanur police booked him for robbery under Section 392 of the IPC.

Manjunath moved the High Court against the cases and contended that he could not be booked under two different statutes. His lawyer P N Hegde picked holes in the investigation report, saying there cannot be two independent investigation reports for the same incident, and demanded that the prosecution be set aside.

Justice Phaneendra granted the stay.