15. Similarly, in Som Parkash v. State of Punjab , the Supreme Court, while considering the evidence of the trap witnesses in a bribe case, held as under :
Any case instituted without a proper and valid sanction must fail because this being a manifest defect in the prosecution, the entire proceedings are rendered void ab initio, as is observed by the Apex Court in Mohd. Iqbal Ahmed v. State of Andhra Pradesh . The trial Court has landed in gross error in holding that the sanction for prosecution accorded by the sanctioning authority was valid and in accordance with law.