A special court in Bengaluru has accepted the closure report filed by the state Lokayukta Police on September 12, 2024, giving clean chit to former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a Rs 1.3 crore bribe case regarding appointments in the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC).
Additional City Civil and Sessions judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat accepted the closure report on January 24, on the grounds that the complainant (BJP leader NR Ramesh) failed to establish sufficient grounds to support the allegations.
The court said that the Lokayukta Police, after completing its preliminary inquiry in the case, had filed a closure report submitting that there was no act of quid pro quo as alleged by the complainant.
Ramesh had alleged that in 2015, Siddaramaiah, as Chief Minister of Karnataka, had accepted an illegal gratification of Rs 1.3 crore from one L Vivekananda to get him appointed as a steward and committee member of BTC.
Refuting the allegations, Siddaramaiah claimed that he had taken that money as a loan amount and even declared the same in his 2023 election affidavit.
Taking into account the submissions made by Siddaramaiah, the special court observed that there was nothing on record to prove that Rs 1.3 crore had been received by Siddaramaiah as an illegal gratification.
It further said that mere acceptance or receipt of an illegal gratification without anything more would not make it an offence under Section 7 or Section 13(1)(d), (i) and (ii), respectively, of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
In order to bring home the offence under Section 7 of the Act, there must be an offer emanating from the bribe giver, which was accepted by the public servant.
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