In a verdict that brings nearly a two-decade-long legal battle to a close, a Bengaluru court has acquitted all seven accused persons in the alleged scam in the process of selection to the Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) Group ‘A’ and ‘B’ gazetted probationers posts in the infamous 1998 batch by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC).
The acquitted include former KPSC chairman H.N. Krishna (Accused No. 1), two selected candidates, Asha Parveen (Accused No. 2) and Salma Firdous (Accused No. 3), and three then employees of KPSC, K. Narasimha, P. Gopi Krishna and M.B. Banakar (Accused No. 5, 6, and 7). They were acquitted from the charges of cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy. Another accused was dropped from the criminal proceedings at an earlier stage.
‘Miserably failed’
Manjunatha K.P., 1st Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bengaluru, in his April 30 judgment, has held that the prosecution had “miserably failed” to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt while pointing out that documents and evidence are “not sufficient to believe the allegations” of the prosecution “in the absence of incriminating materials and evidence to establish the alleged offences.”
