Karnataka HC reserves verdict on bail plea of IAS officer Manjunath arrested in bribery case
Bengaluru, Aug 1: The High Court of Karnataka has reserved its judgement on a bail petition of IAS officer and former Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner J Manjunath.
The judgement is expected within two days.
He was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) police for allegedly accepting Rs 5 lakh as bribe in his office.
The case turned sensational after a High Court judge, hearing the bail plea of a deputy tahsildar, an accused in the case, summoned the service records of the ACB chief and the IAS officer.
Manjunath was arrested days after the judge Justice H P Sandesh, in the deputy tahsildar's bail petition, asked why senior officers were not charged in the case.
Manjunath was arrested on July 4 and his bail plea before the Special Court, hearing the case, was rejected on July 11. He approached the High Court where Justice K Natarajan heard the petition.
The counsel on his behalf has argued that he was falsely implicated in the case after the High Court's comments by way of an additional report.
Arguing for Manjunath on Monday, senior advocate H S Chandramouli said a file was pending before Manjunath, and it was not cleared as there were thousands of pending files, and the alleged bribe was paid and collected by others without the knowledge of the Deputy Commissioner.
The deputy tahsildar working in the Deputy Commissioner's office and others are also accused in the case. The bribe was allegedly collected to give a favourable verdict in a land dispute.
The hearing of both the counsels for Manjunath and the ACB concluded today after which the court reserved its judgement.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
