NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ruled that once the prosecution establishes a public servant holds assets

NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court has ruled that once the prosecution establishes a public servant holds assets disproportionate to known income, the legal burden shifts to the accused to account for the excess wealth, adding that investigators are not obligated to probe every conceivable avenue of income.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva delivered the judgment on Wednesday, dismissing an appeal filed by V Gopalakrishnan, a former Kerala government official. The Court upheld his conviction under the Prevention of Corruption Act and directed him to surrender within two weeks to serve the remainder of his sentence.

The ruling addresses the scope of investigative duties in corruption cases involving public servants. The bench stated that the law does not require investigating agencies to embark on inquiries into undisclosed sources that were never reflected in records or brought to official notice during the relevant period.

“The prosecution is not required to undertake an open-ended, limitless, or roving enquiry obliging the investigating agency to explore every possible avenue of income that may be imagined or claimed by the accused,” the Court observed.

The prosecution alleged that Gopalakrishnan accumulated assets amounting to about 51.88% of his family’s income beyond known sources between January 1993 and January 2001. Gopalakrishnan joined government service as a lower division clerk in May 1971 and was promoted to sub-registrar in September 1993.

The Kerala High Court had previously reduced his sentence, taking into account trial delays, his age, and the resulting trauma, while retaining a one-year jail term and a fine of ₹2 lakh. With the Supreme Court’s dismissal of his appeal, Gopalakrishnan must now surrender within two weeks.