Bengaluru, Dec 21: The High Court of Karnataka has quashed the bribery case pending against former BJP MLA from Channagiri, Madal Virupakshappa.
The case was set in motion after his son, Prashanth Madal, a KAS officer, was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh allegedly on behalf of his father. Subsequently, more cash was found in his residence.
"Prima facie, it is the son who has to answer the allegations in a full-blown trial," the single bench of high court said quashing the case against Virupakshappa on Wednesday.
Justice M Nagaprasanna in his judgement quashed the case pending before the special court for sitting and former legislators and said that there is no evidence against Virupakshappa, but his son has to answer for the cash found.
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Allowing the petition filed by the then chairman of Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL), the court said, "The son is prima facie guilty of demand, acceptance and is answerable to the cash found in his house or his office. If the petitioner (Madal Virupakshappa) is nowhere found in any of the instances, he cannot be permitted to be prosecuted merely because he is the father of the accused no 2 (Prashanth Madal)."
The complaint registered by the Lokayukta police on March 2, 2023, under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) does not constitute the ingredients of offences under Section 7 and 7A of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, the court said.
Madal Virupakshappa, the number one accused in the case, was charged under Section 7(A) and 7(B) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
While Prashanth Madal is the second accused in the case. Siddesh, Nicholas and Gangadhar are the other accused.
The court said that in the entire episode there was no evidence of an offence committed by the senior Madal.
"Since no offence in even the remotest sense was found, permitting proceedings against the ex-MLA would become an abuse of the process of law, degenerate into harassment and ultimately result in miscarriage of justice.
"The son is prima facie guilty of demand, acceptance and is answerable to the cash found in his house or his office," the court said for allowing the proceedings to continue against Prashanth.
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PANCHKULA: Police have registered a case against a YouTuber for allegedly circulating misleading and false information about the Haryana Common Eligibility Test (CET) through social media.
According to Inspector Rupesh Chaudhary, Station House Officer of Sector-5 police station, the complaint was filed on August 1, 2025, by Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) official Kedar Singh, reported The Indian Express on Monday.
The complaint alleges that Prince Lamba, a journalist and anchor with the YouTube channel Haryana News 24, uploaded two videos on July 26 and 27 containing sensational claims about the CET examination.
The videos carried headlines such as “CET Cancelled, Will the Paper be Held Again?” and “HSSC’s Big Betrayal of Lakhs of Youth! Uproar in Haryana.” Both these headlines reportedly caused confusion among a large number of candidates in the state.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Srishti Gupta said that a First Information Report has been registered under Sections 335 and 353(1)(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the accused has been served a legal notice, and an investigation is underway.
Gupta added that the police will take strict legal action against anyone found to be spreading misleading information regarding examinations or recruitment processes.