KAS selection row: Bengaluru court acquits ex-KPSC chief, 5 others

The court noted that the very aggrieved candidates, who were not selected for the posts, had not supported the prosecution case and they deposed evidence against their own statements given to the policel.

Bengaluru: An Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) court has acquitted H N Krishna, former chairman of Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC), and five others in the case of alleged irregularities in the process of selection of 1998 batch Gazetted Probationary posts.

The others acquitted in the case are; Asha Parveen and Salma Firdosh, two candidates (named as accused numbers 2 and 3, respectively) and K Narasimha, P Gopala Krishna and M B Banakar, three KPSC staff (named as accused numbers 5, 6 and 7, respectively).

1st Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bengaluru, K P Manjunatha noted that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubts and hence the accused are acquitted on benefit of doubt.

The court further pointed out that though the prosecution examined several witnesses, all those witnesses and documents in the chargesheet material could only show to the court that Krishna was chairman of the KPSC at the time of the 1998 Gazetted Probationary Batch and two other accused were KPSC employees and were working under the direction of Krishna. 

The court noted that the very aggrieved candidates, who were not selected for the posts, had not supported the prosecution case and they deposed evidence against their own statements given to the police and the magistrate under CrPC Section 164.

The court further observed that there were some lacuna and irregularities and grave administrative lapse in the process of 1998 Gazetted Probationary batch. However, such administrative
lapses shall not be given nor treated as criminal acts against the accused in this case, the court said.

The prosecution case was that the accused KPSC chairman and three KPSC members did not select H G Prabhakar, T S Hanumanthegowda and Allabhksha and selected Asha Parveen and Salma Firdosh on faulty caste certificates and other documents. The prosecution submitted 41 witnesses and 71 documents while the defence exhibited 81 documents in the case.