Hc Overturns Cop’s Conviction In Da Case, Legal News, ET LegalWorld – Legal Firms

Bengaluru: A police inspector who was convicted for possession of disproportionate assets and sentenced to four years in prison has been acquitted by the high court. The trial court had not taken into consideration his agricultural income, the investigation against him was conducted not by an officer of the stipulated rank and he was neither raided nor documents were collected from him, the court has pointed out.

Allowing an appeal filed by sub-inspector Y Gangi Reddy who was working in Mangaluru, Justice Mohammad Nawaz said: “Not considering the agricultural income claimed by the accused has resulted in miscarriage of justice. Even if 1/4 of the agricultural income is taken into consideration then it cannot be said that the accused was having pecuniary resources or property disproportionate to the known source of his income. The accused has been able to satisfactorily account for the possession of resources by preponderance of probability.”

Gangi Reddy was booked by the Lokayukta under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act-1988 in 2009 for demanding a bribe of Rs 30,000 from Srinivas Prasad, owner of a stolen vehicle, to show an official favour. The case was closed later as the voice recording in which the cop had made the bribe demand was not traced.

However, the Lokayukta booked a disproportionate assets case against Gangi Reddy, alleging that he had assets worth Rs 15 lakh disproportionate to his income. After reassessing the claims of the prosecution and the defence, the trial court convicted him for possessing Rs 10.4 lakh worth assets and sentenced him to four years’ simple imprisonment. Gangi Reddy challenged the order in the high court. He was also slapped with a fine of Rs 50,000, failing which he would have to undergo one more year’s imprisonment.

After evaluating and re-appreciating the evidence and material on record, the HC pointed out that the prosecution admitted that the investigation officer in the rank of inspector has no authority to conduct investigation in DA cases. The same witness also admitted that after registration of the DA case, the house of the accused was not raided and no documents were collected. The investigation officer himself had said he had not filed the authorisation letter to register the case, the judge pointed out.

—Preethi VP