Supreme Court issues notice to Karnataka DyCM DK Shivakumar on CBI's plea in disproportionate assets case on Monday. (supplied)
The Supreme Court on Monday, 16 October, issued notice to Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on a plea by the CBI challenging a Karnataka High Court order in June staying investigation in an alleged corruption and disproportionate assets case.
Issuing notice, a bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Bela M Trivedi refused to put on hold the high court judgement challenged by the CBI.
“We are not staying it ex-parte,” Justice Bose said as Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju urged the bench to stay the high court order.
Appearing for the investigating agency, ASG Raju told the bench that 90 percent of the probe in the case is already over, and urged the bench to put on hold the high court order staying the investigation.
The Karnataka High Court had stayed the sanction granted by the state government for investigation in an alleged graft and disproportional assets case involving Shivakumar.
The controversy surrounding DK Shivakumar commenced in August 2017 when the Income Tax (I-T) Department conducted a raid on him.
At that time, Shivakumar was safeguarding 44 Congress MLAs from Gujarat at a resort near Bengaluru, anticipating potential poaching attempts by the BJP before a Rajya Sabha election.
The I-T officials, accompanied by armed central police forces, entered the resort on 2 August, 2017, and also executed searches at 67 locations linked to Shivakumar, his family, and friends nationwide.
The I-T Department reported discovering at least ₹9 crore in unaccounted cash and attached properties worth crores for further investigation.
Subsequently, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated a money laundering probe against Shivakumar in 2018 based on the I-T chargesheet.
Approximately 10 days after facing questioning by ED officials, Shivakumar became the subject of the CBI scrutiny.
Relying on the findings of the ED’s investigation, the CBI sought permission from the state government to file an FIR against the Congress state president.
The sanction was granted on 25 September, 2019, and on 3 October, 2020, Shivakumar was formally booked by the CBI under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In September 2019, he was incarcerated in Tihar Jail but secured conditional bail from the Delhi High Court a few weeks later.
Shivakumar has consistently criticised the CBI’s actions, branding them as “mental harassment” and questioning their timing, particularly in the lead-up to the Karnataka Assembly polls.
He contends that the CBI, by issuing repeated notices, is applying undue pressure, despite the case originating in 2020.
On 10 February, 2023, the Karnataka High Court intervened, staying CBI proceedings in the corruption case against Shivakumar.
The court instructed the probe agency to furnish an action-taken report in the case registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act. This stay was subsequently extended on different dates.
The high court raised concerns about the CBI’s progress over the past two years, questioning when the final report would be filed. As it adjourned the case, the court emphasised that the cases against Shivakumar dated back to 2020.
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