Return equivalent amount used to trap public servant to complainants without waiting for trial in bribery cases: Karnataka HC

In a verdict that could impact hundreds of corruption cases, the Karnataka High Court has held that complainants, who provided their money for trap operations against officials demanding bribe, are entitled to get their money back without waiting for the trial to conclude.The court said that the prosecuting agency, through the instrumentality of the State, has to pay the complainants an equivalent amount from the State exchequer immediately after the trap proceedings attain finality for investigative purposes, leaving the original currency notes to continue as material exhibits before the jurisdictional courts.Years of wait“To compel the complainant to wait for years together for restoration of his money, merely because he assisted the State, would amount to converting his public spiritedn