Bengaluru: The Supreme Court has rejected the petition filed by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, seeking to halt the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against him. The CBI has accused Shivakumar of amassing disproportionate assets between 2013 and 2017 and had filed an FIR in this regard.
Shivakumar had requested the court to direct the CBI to drop the case. However, the bench headed by Justice Bela Trivedi dismissed his petition. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Shivakumar, argued that the investigation commenced without obtaining permission under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. He referred to the judgment in Chandrababu Naidu’s case, which questioned whether Section 17A applied to offenses committed before the 2018 amendment.
Justice Trivedi responded that the proceedings could not be quashed based on a split judgment. Despite Rohatgi’s request for the issuance of a notice on the petition, the bench showed no interest in doing so.
During his tenure as the Energy Minister in the previous Siddaramaiah government, DK Shivakumar allegedly earned an unaccounted income of Rs 74 crore. The CBI claimed that he amassed Rs 74.93 crore in excess during this period. Consequently, in 2019, the CBI sought permission from the state government to investigate Shivakumar.
The then BJP-led state government granted permission for the investigation, leading to the CBI filing an FIR against Shivakumar. He subsequently filed a petition in the High Court to drop the investigation. Initially heard by a division bench, the case was later transferred to an enlarged bench.
Recently, the cabinet headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah decided to reverse the previous government’s decision to hand over the case to the CBI. BJP MLA Basanagowda Patil Yatnal and others approached the High Court against this reversal. The CBI argued that it was inappropriate to withdraw a case that had already been investigated and appealed to the Supreme Court.
The controversies surrounding Valmiki Nigam and the Muda irregularities, which have roiled Karnataka politics, began during the BJP regime. With the Congress now in power, these issues have escalated. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has accused the BJP of attempting to pin these scandals on the current government.
This decision by the Supreme Court means that the CBI probe against DK Shivakumar will continue, adding another layer of complexity to the already turbulent political landscape in Karnataka.
