Bribery charge: BJP MLA moves plea for advance bail

Madal Virupakshappa, BJP MLA from Channagiri constituency, has moved petitions seeking anticipatory bail as well as quashing of the FIR registered against him in a bribery case.

The advocate appearing for the MLA on Monday mentioned the matter before the court presided over by Justice K Natarajan, the designated judge in the high court for cases arising from the special court for cases involving MPs/MLAs. The anticipatory bail petition will be taken up on Tuesday.

Madal Virupakshappa resigned as the chairman of the state-owned Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL) after the Lokayukta police registered FIR against him and his son Prashant Madal. Virupakshappa is named as accused number one while his son Prashanth Madal is accused no 2.

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Prashant was caught red-handed by the Lokayukta police while accepting Rs 40 lakh bribe in connection with the award of a tender for supply of perfumery items to KSDL. Subsequently, the Lokayukta police seized Rs 6 crore cash during the searches at the house of Madal Virupakshappa.

In his petitions, Virupakshappa has claimed that the allegations made in the FIR are absurd and there are no sufficient grounds to proceed against him. According to the petition, initially the FIR was registered under Section 7 (a) and (b) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act. It is contended that the public servant concerned should have demanded and accepted the bribe or attempted to get any undue advantage in order to perform a public duty to invoke the said section.

“In the present case, there is no such allegation that petitioner had ever demanded any pecuniary advantage in order to do a public duty in favour of the complainant. In fact, the petitioner was not even the person who was trapped pursuant to the FIR. Such being the case, arraying the petitioner as accused itself is bad in law,” the petition said.

The petition claimed that the complainant has tried to induce the petitioner through his son, to get the tender allotted in his favour. According to the petition in the present case, the allotment, acceptance of the tender and the issuance of the purchase order has been done by the additional general manager (AGM) of the KSDL.

“In the instant case, nowhere in the complaint and the FIR, there is specific allegation against the petitioner to have taken illegal gratification. Mere recovery of money from accused no 2 (Prashant Madal) bereft of any material showing illegal or corrupt means or abuse of official function, would not be sufficient cause to register and maintain proceedings under the alleged offences under the PC Act,” the petition said.

The complainant stated that Prashanth had demanded and accepted bribe to clear the purchase order in favour of Chemixil Corporation towards the supply of 5,100 kg of Guaiacwood Oil at the rate of Rs 815 per Kg and towards the supply of 29,520 Kg Abbalide/Musk-50 at the rate of Rs 4,349 per Kg by another company Delicia Chemicals. The complainant is the director of Chemixil Corporation.

The petition stated that the tender was invited for the supply of perfumery items to the KSDL and Chemixil Corporation and Delicia Chemicals were successful bidders. Accordingly, the purchase orders were issued on January 28 and 30, 2023, to both these companies. The demand for graft was recorded on February 8, 2023, in complainant’s Techno View Smart watch. It is alleged that Prashanth demanded Rs 81 lakh towards the allotment of the tender and for clearance of the bills towards the supply of the chemicals.