Court junks plea by govt employee who tried to bribe HC

Court junks plea by govt employee who tried to bribe HC

Srikkanth.D@timesgroup.com

Chennai:27.12.2021

A special court for cases booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act has dismissed a petition from a sacked government servant to drop the charges against him, months after directing him to undergo medical check-up at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) after he claimed to be suffering from mental illness as a case was taken up against him for attempting to bribe judges of the Madras high court.

Accordingly, the government employee, V Balasubramanian, was subjected to a clinical examination and psychological assessment and the report from IMH held that Balasubramanian is able to understand the details of the charges against him and has adequate cognitive functions (thinking, memory and problem solving abilities).

Citing the report, the court held that the petitioner was fit to stand trial and the prosecution had a prima facie case to proceed against him and dismissed his petition to drop charges against him. The accused, after being terminated from service, had appealed twice before the high court and after both appeals were dismissed, he had sent a letter to the Chief Justice of the Madras high court to provide him a job along with ₹10,000 bribe to give him a favourable order. Based on a complaint from the registrar of the Madras high court, a FIR was registered by the Central Crime Branch and he was arrested. Police filed the report and the special court had taken cognizance of the report on November 11, 2020. When the case was taken up for trial, the accused appeared before the court and raised various grounds to discharge him from the case and one such ground was that he had been suffering from mental illness between 2012 and 2014 and he is continuing psychiatric treatment for the same till date.