Justice K Natarajan, in response to three separate petitions filed by the officials against whom the State government had initiated proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act (POCA), quashed the criminal charges. These officials were accused of providing VK Sasikala, former secretary general of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), with preferential treatment during her imprisonment at Bengaluru Central Jail.
The case began in 2017 when an anonymous letter addressed to the Director General of Police (DGP), Prisons, alleged that Gajaraja Makanur, the sub-inspector of police at Bengaluru Central Jail at the time, had accepted bribes and allowed Sasikala to meet MPs and MLAs without recording their visits in the registry. Following an unsuccessful investigation by an IAS officer, the State government transferred the case to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
Under the authorization of the State government, the ACB had been granted permission to prosecute Makanur, Krishna Kumar (the then Chief Superintendent of Prisons), and Dr. Anitha R (the then Assistant Superintendent of Prisons, Bengaluru Central Jail). However, the three officials challenged the sanction in the High Court, arguing that it had been granted without proper consideration.
The petitioners highlighted that HN Satyanarayana Rao, the former director general of prisons, had been removed from the chargesheet. They also pointed out that no specific allegations had been made against them to justify invoking the POCA penalties.
During the proceedings, the Court noted that the departmental investigation against Krishna Kumar was still ongoing and that no report had been filed against him. Furthermore, the Court observed that neither he nor Gajaraja had been explicitly accused of corruption.
Regarding the sanction against Dr. Anitha R, the Court found that the authority responsible for granting it had dropped the departmental enquiry against her following its quashing by the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT). The Court determined that this lack of application of mind by the same authority invalidated the sanction.
Consequently, the Court accepted the petitions and invalidated the State government’s authorization to proceed with the POCA charges against the officials.
