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The Karnataka Lokayuktha, Bagalkote District v. Chandrashekar & Anr.

Not available · 2026 INSC 31Decided 6 Jan 2026
Not available
Justice K. Vinod Chandran · Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah

Background

An engineer's criminal bribery prosecution was quashed by the High Court because a separate departmental inquiry (by his employer) had exonerated him: largely because the ACB trap officer wasn't examined.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court reinstated the prosecution, holding disciplinary and criminal proceedings run on different standards of proof by different authorities: an exoneration only ends a parallel case where both proceedings are run by the same authority and the exoneration is genuinely merits-based, not a procedural gap.

Lesson Learnt

Being cleared in a workplace disciplinary inquiry doesn't automatically end a related criminal case: the two are separate tracks unless the same authority runs both.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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