Mysore Sandal scam: ‘Bribe giver should be as susceptible for prosecution as bribe taker’, says Karnataka High Court

On a complaint against Virupakshappa, the Lokayukta police raided the office of his son Prashanth. Albert Nicolas and Gangadhar were found in the office of Prashanth carrying cash.

A separate complaint was filed in which these two, along with the three owners of the Karnataka Aromas Company, were made the accused in the Mysore Sandal bribery case. It was this case that the five of them had challenged in two separate petitions.

The money seized is claimed to be the bribe allegedly being paid to Virupakshappa through his son Prashanth.

Related: Virupakshappa goes ‘incommunicado’; Lokayukta teams track him

Mysore Sandal scam case

Virupakshappa was named as the prime accused in the first FIR registered by the Lokayukta police in the Mysore Sandal scam case, who conducted search operations at the then MLA’s office on Crescent Road in Bengaluru on the evening of 2 March and caught his son Prashanth Madal red-handed while he was accepting a bribe of ₹40 lakh from one Shreyas Kashyap, the owner of a chemical company.

The bribe was allegedly for the granting of a tender or contract for supplying chemical raw materials to KSDL, where Virupakshappa was then chairman.

Prashanth Madal was immediately arrested — along with four others — from the office.

While two of the arrested, Siddesh and Surendhar, were office associates of Prashanth, two others — Albert Nicholas and Gangadhar — from Karnataka Aromas were waiting at the same office to offer ₹90 lakh (₹45 lakh each) as bribes to Prashanth. The money was also seized by the police.

Later, the Lokayukta police conducted searches at Prashanth’s house as well as the then MLA’s house, where a total of ₹8.23 crore, including the money from the office, were seized by the Lokayukta, after which they registered two more FIRs.

In both of them, Prashanth Madal was named the prime accused and booked for accepting bribes.

Related: Ex-MLA Madal Virupakshappa granted conditional bail

Court rejects their plea

The high court rejected their plea for quashing the Mysore Sandal scam case quoting US philosopher Ayn Rand, “When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt but protects the corrupt from you, you know the nation is doomed.”

The high court said the investigation was necessary to find out why the two were carrying the cash.

“As observed hereinabove, this is a picture in a picture. Accused Number 2 and 3 in the case at hand were caught at the time when the search was conducted in connection with Crime No. 13 of 2023,” it said.

“They were admittedly caught holding two bags of cash of ₹45 lakh each and were sitting in the personal office of accused No. 1, son of the Chairman of Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited, and they are the office-bearers of Karnataka Aromas Company, a commercial organisation.

“The question is why were they sitting in the personal office of accused No. 1, a public servant and why were they sitting with bags containing cash of ₹45 lakh each waiting to see accused No. 1 in his personal office would become a matter of investigation,” the court said.

Related: Lokayukta seizures from house of BJP MLA and his son

‘Similar to a potboiler movie’

The court compared the connected incidents to a potboiler movie.

“Prima facie, if the story narrated by the learned senior counsel is accepted, it would be accepting a screenplay of a potboiler without letting investigation to be conducted into such ingredients, as the story, within a story twined is interesting to listen, it is a ‘Katha sangama’ but, if the petitioners are left off the hook, the very object behind the amendment and substituting Sections 8, 9 and 10 would be rendered redundant.”

“It is high time the menace of corruption is plugged and nipped in the bud by making the bribe-giver susceptible for such prosecution, like the bribe-taker,” the high court added.

Rejecting the petitions, the court said, “The entire facts narrated hereinabove are shrouded with corruption, on all the fours of the facts. It is therefore not the stage to spread a protective umbrella of law to the petitioners. Wherefore, for all the aforesaid reasons, finding no merit in the petitions, the petitions stand rejected.”

Also Read: Karnataka to give cash in lieu of rice under Anna Bhagya

Who is Madal Virupakshappa?

Madal Virupakshappa is a former BJP MLA from Channagiri constituency in Karnataka’s Davangere and was the chairperson of KSDL, a position from which he had to step down following the scandal.

The two-time MLA was first given a ticket by BJP with the support of BS Yediyurappa in 2008 from the same seat. In 2008, he won from Channagiri and entered the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. According to documents he has submitted to the Election Commission ahead of the 2018 Assembly polls, his assets were worth ₹5.73 crore.

A staunch BS Yediyurappa loyalist, Virupakshappa was among those who quit the BJP to follow the former when he split from the party in 2012.

In the 2023 Assembly elections, he was denied ticket.

How did Madal Virupakshappa become chairman of KDSL?

Madal Virupakshappa returned to the BJP when BS Yediyurappa too came back to the party.

In 2018, once again with Yediyurappa’s backing, he contested the Channagiri seat successfully on a BJP ticket.

In 2021, when the BJP central leadership moved to replace Yediyurappa, Virupakshappa was among the vocal voices in his support, warning the party leadership of electoral losses if he were removed as chief minister.

As a reward for his loyalty, then chief minister Yediyurappa in December 2020 had appointed Madal Virupakshappa and 12 other MLAs to various boards and corporations.

(With PTI inputs)