The Karnataka High Court on Thursday rejected Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s plea seeking dismissal of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s disproportionate assets case against him, Bar and Bench reported.
The central investigating agency had booked Shivakumar in 2020 for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 74.93 crore. The senior Congress leader’s assets increased disproportionately from 2013 to 2018, the agency alleged. It had conducted raids at 14 premises linked to Shivakumar.
On Thursday, Justice K Natarajan said that Shivakumar had filed the plea seeking dismissal of the case after an inordinate delay and observed that most of the investigation has concluded, Bar and Bench reported.
Natarajan said that Shivakumar could approach the court again seeking for the case to be quashed after the Central Bureau of Investigation submits its final report. The court also directed the agency to conclude the investigation within three months.
In 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka had allowed the agency to investigate Shivakumar in this matter. The investigation was based on inputs it had received from the Enforcement Directorate, which was conducting a separate money laundering investigation against Shivakumar.
The Enforcement Directorate had accused him of tax evasion and being involved in alleged hawala transactions worth crores of rupees.
In April, the High Court rejected Shivakumar’s plea against this decision by the state government to grant sanction for a CBI probe in the case. However, the order was challenged before a division bench, which ordered an interim stay on the investigation in June.
The CBI challenged the stay in the Supreme Court. However, the top court refused to interfere in the matter.
On Monday, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the agency, again urged the top court to stay the High Court’s decision, The Hindu reported. He said that 90% of the investigation had already been completed.
However, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi rejected the request. “That will be like an ex parte order,” the bench said. “We have to hear him [Shivakumar].”
The top court issued a notice to Shivakumar and listed the matter for hearing on November 7, reported The Hindu.
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