Synopsis

The applicants (Achche Lal and Brikesh Pandey), public servants in the postal department, were arrested in a trap case for demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹25,000 to allow a candidate to join a GDS post. They challenged their prosecution sanction orders, discharge rejection orders, and charge framing orders. The High Court dismissed their petitions, holding that: (i) the validity of a sanction order under Section 19 of the PC Act is to be examined during trial, not at the pre-trial stage (following Parkash Singh Badal and Dinesh Kumar); (ii) mentioning an offence (Section 61(2) BNS) for which sanction is not required does not invalidate the sanction for the offence under Section 7 PC Act; (iii) under Section 17A of the PC Act, no prior approval is required when the accused is caught red-handed during a trap (first proviso); (iv) there was sufficient material to frame charges against the applicants.

Court: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench

Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Subhash Vidyarthi

Date of Judgment: 23rd April 2026

Citation: 2026:AHC-LKO:29681 (Application U/S 528 BNSS No. 1346 of 2026)

Core Law: Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 – Sections 7, 17A, 19; Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 – Section 61(2); Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 – Section 528

1. Heading of the judgment

High court of judicature at allahabad lucknow

Application u/s 528 bnss no. 1346 of 2026 with application u/s 528 bnss no. 1352 of 2026

Achche lal and another (applicants) vs. Central bureau of investigation thr. cbi/acb lko (opposite party)

Coram: hon’ble mr. justice subhash vidyarthi

Date: 23rd april, 2026

2. Legal framework

Major laws and provisions involved:

• Prevention of corruption act, 1988 – section 7 (offence of taking bribe), section 17a (prior approval for investigation), section 19 (sanction for prosecution)

• Bharatiya nyaya sanhita (bns), 2023 – section 61(2) (criminal conspiracy)

• Bharatiya nagarik suraksha sanhita (bnss), 2023 – section 528 (revision/appeal against interlocutory orders, analogous to section 482 crpc / section 528 of bnss as per context)

Subject matter of the judgment:

Whether a prosecution sanction order under Section 19 of the PC Act mentioning an offence under Section 61(2) BNS (for which no sanction is required) invalidates the entire sanction; whether the

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