Karnataka High Court Quashes Lokayukta Bribery FIR Against Mangaluru Urban Development Authority Commissioner

The Karnataka High Court has quashed the bribery case registered by the Karnataka Lokayukta police against Mangalore Urban Development Authority Commissioner Mansoor Ali. In its order dated 4 November 2026, the court said the record showed neither demand nor acceptance of money by him.

Registered in March 2024 under Section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the case was based on a complaint from a real-estate businessman. He alleged his file relating to Transferable Development Rights for his land had been kept pending without clearance and that clearance was linked to payment of Rs 25 lakh.

Cash handed to second accused

Police laid the trap at a stadium parking area in Mangaluru, where the complainant handed the cash to another man who was caught on the spot with the money in his possession. Ali was sitting in a meeting at the Zilla Panchayat office in the city at that time. He was taken into custody at a later stage on the basis of the trap proceedings.

At the hearing, the prosecution contended that the other man had collected the cash on Ali's directions and that liability under the statute extends to a bribe received through a third party even when the public servant does not personally receive it. The court rejected that contention after examining the manner in which the trap had been arranged and documented.

No trap was laid against Ali himself. No pre-trap preparation or record was drawn against him, and the chemical hand wash test to detect contact with treated currency notes was conducted only on the other man and not on him. Relying on rulings of the Supreme Court, the order said demand and acceptance are the basic ingredients of the offence under the provision invoked and a statement by a co-accused alone to the effect that he acted on behalf of another could not sustain continued investigation against Ali.

The court described continuation of the proceedings against him as an abuse of the process of law. It quashed the first information report so far as he is concerned. The case against the second accused will continue.