The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : CoD allowed to prosecute Monnappa

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Tuesday, Feb 05, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

CoD allowed to prosecute Monnappa

Krishnaprasad

Centre’s clearance under Prevention of Corruption Act awaited

Monnappa found guilty on seven counts in KPSC scam
The State Government issued the order on January 5

Bangalore: The State Government has finally permitted the Corps of Detectives (CoD) to prosecute senior IAS officer A.K. Monnappa, the then secretary of the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC), who was found guilty by the CoD of criminal conspiracy, forgery and other charges in the investigation of the irregularities that marred the process of the KAS examination held in 1998.

The CoD in September 2006 had sought the Government’s permission under Section 197(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure to take legal action against Mr. Monnappa as obtaining prior sanction from the Government was mandatory to prosecute a public servant.

Mr. Monnappa, the prime accused in the case, has been found guilty of seven charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the CoD. He is now serving as Deputy Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises.

However, the CoD has to wait for one more clearance — that of the Union Government — to file the chargesheet against him under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act although the State on January 5 issued order to prosecute the officer.

The State Government, after conducting two inquiries — one by a sub-committee constituted by the KPSC and the another by a Principal Secretary — which unearthed large-scale irregularities in the examination process, had lodged a complaint at the Vidhana Soudha police station against Mr. Monnappa and others.

Subsequently, the case was referred to the CoD. If convicted, Mr. Monnappa faces between 10 years and life term in jail.

Conspiracy

A CoD team, headed by Deputy Inspector-General of Police Srikanta K., which had probed into the matter, found that Mr. Monnappa, along with Rameshwarappa (a government servant who had appeared for the KAS examination) had hatched a criminal conspiracy to tamper with the answer sheets.

The conspiracy was aimed at helping Mr. Rameshwarappa and some of his relatives (who had appeared for the examination) secure higher marks in the examination to ensure their selection to the posts of assistant commissioners (Gazetted Probationers in Group A and B).

The investigation had found the involvement of Shivanna, who was a faculty member in Mysore University and the chief examiner for the KPSC examinations. However, Prof. Shivanna died when the investigation was on.

The CoD had named nine others, B.S. Nagaraj, B.S. Triveni and B. Hemalatha (Mr. Rameshwarappa’s brother-in-law and sisters-in-law respectively), K.C. Ponnappa, P.C. Naveen, K.R. Pratap, N.T. Cauveriyappa, K.G. Subhash and M. Leela, as accused in the scam in its investigation report.

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