The SC bench said it was not going to interfere and granted the CBI liberty to request the high court for speedy disposal of the case.
Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar (Supplied)
The Supreme Court on Monday, 31 July, refused to interfere with the Karnataka High Court’s order granting an interim stay on a CBI probe into a disproportionate assets case against the state’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.
A bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice CT Ravikumar, and Justice Sanjay Kumar dismissed the appeal filed by the CBI against the 10 February order of the high court in the case.
“Since present SLP (Special Leave Petition) arises out of purely an interlocutory order, we are not inclined to entertain present petition. All questions available to parties are kept open to be argued before the high court,” said the bench.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said that the division bench of the high court granted an interim stay on the proceedings despite there being an order in favour of the agency.
On a request by Raju, who appeared for the CBI for an expeditious hearing of the matter by the high court, the bench in its order said, “Petitioner (CBI) would be at liberty to request the high court for expeditious disposal which shall be considered by it on its merits.”
At the outset, Raju told the bench that CBI succeeded before the single judge, which had initially stayed the probe.
“However, they (Shivakumar) approached the division bench which granted the stay. We have challenged that (interim stay by the Division bench) in a separate petition and requested for tagging,” he said.
Raju said, “I’ll have to point out why stay order is bad. If it’s decided in my favour, then this (latest stay) goes.”
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Shivakumar told the bench that the matter was listed before the high court for rejoinder arguments on Monday.
“The matter is on threshold of being decided. Interim order (by the High Court) challenged today (before the top court) is succeeded by five other interim orders. Therefore, this is unnecessary. Against the current interim stay, (by the High Court) again an SLP has been filed (by the CBI),” Singhvi said.
On 10 February, the Karnataka High Court stayed CBI proceedings in a corruption case against Shivakumar. The court also directed the probe agency to submit an action-taken report in the case registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The stay was later extended on different dates.
The high court pointed out that the cases registered against Shivakumar were from 2020 and also questioned the CBI on the progress of the investigation over the last two years.
The high court had asked the agency when it would file the final report as it stayed the proceedings till the next date of hearing and adjourned the case.
The Income Tax (I-T) Department had, in 2017, conducted a raid against Shivakumar, on the basis of which, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) started its probe against him.
Following the ED investigation, the CBI sought sanction from the state government to file an FIR against Shivakumar.
The sanction came on 25 September, 2019, and on 3 October, 2020, Shivakumar was booked by the CBI under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Shivakumar had approached the Karnataka High Court challenging the sanction and proceedings against him, alleging that the CBI was applying mental pressure on him ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections by repeatedly issuing notices to him, even though the case dates back to 2020.
The issue began with an I-T raid on Shivakumar in August 2017. The raid came at a time when Shivakumar was playing host to 44 Congress MLAs from Gujarat at a resort, ahead of voting in a Rajya Sabha election there.
The Congress had entrusted Shivakumar with the task of shielding the MLAs from alleged poaching attempts by the BJP.
In the early hours of 2 August, 2017, I-T officials and armed central police forces entered the resort and conducted raids.
I-T searches were carried out at 67 locations connected to Shivakumar, his family, and friends across the country.
The I-T Department said at least ₹9 crore in unaccounted cash was found and properties worth crores were attached for an investigation.
Based on the I-T chargesheet, the ED began its probe against him and registered a case of money laundering against Shivakumar in 2018.
Exactly 10 days after he was questioned by ED officials, Shivakumar was on the CBI’s radar.
Based on the ED’s investigation, the CBI sought sanction from the state government to file an FIR against the Congress state president.
In September 2019, he was sent to Tihar Jail in connection with the case. He walked out weeks later when the Delhi High Court granted him conditional bail.
In the past, Shivakumar has deemed the CBI’s action as “mental harassment” and questioned its timing since it was in the run-up to the Karnataka Assembly polls.
(With PTI inputs)
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