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Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy of Madras High Court recently dismissed a plea by a person who paid Rs.78 Lakhs as bribe to a conman to get a Class-1 job. The person had moved the court for return of money of Rs.10 lakhs as interim custody. Court remarked that the “petitioner appeared to be a very greedy person”.

According to the order, the petitioner had paid a sum of Rs.78 Lakhs for the purpose of getting a Class-I job, however, it turned out that the other person who took the money was running a job racket. Petitioner approached the High Court under revision jurisdiction against the order of Judicial Magistrate No.I, at Poonamalee near Chennai. The Magistrate had dismissed his plea for interim custody of the money in the fixed deposits till the trial concludes on the ground that the investigation is at the nascent stage and it has to be decided only during trial.

The High Court, on hearing the submissions, observed that the man appeared to be a very greedy person. Court further observed that he had paid a sum of Rs.78 Lakhs for the purpose of getting a Class-I job but he had to wait for the trial to complete as then only the Court could return the money after a clear finding in that regard.

On the question of expeditious trial, the high court held that It is to be understood by all concerned that public appointment is only by selection process and no job can be obtained by giving a bribe. "However, in the present case, it is seen that the petitioner with his full knowledge has given a huge amount of Rs.78 Lakhs, without any thought about that how many years a person has to work and earn that much of salary," Court said.

Court also observed that the petitioner, without any guilt as to what will happen to the person who had scored more marks, paid the bribe.

In view of the above reason, Court concluded that it was not inclined to pass any order expediting the trial and the petition was liable to be dismissed.

Case title: Sadagoppan Vs State of Tamil Nadu