Relief to Shivakumar; HC rejects CBI plea to continue DA case probe

Bengaluru, August 29

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday held as "non-maintainable" a petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the Congress government's decision to withdraw consent to it for investigating a disproportionate assets (DA) case against Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.

A division bench, comprising Justices K Somashekar and Umesh M Adiga, also dismissed the plea challenging the State government's December 26, 2023 order referring the Rs 74.93 crore DA case to the Lokayukta for investigation.

In a 67-page judgment, the High Court stated that the issues raised in the petition should be addressed by the Supreme Court.

The bench had reserved its judgment on the matter on August 12.

The CBI had earlier alleged that Shivakumar amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2013 and 2018. He was a minister in the previous Congress government during this period.

The previous BJP government had granted sanction to the CBI to prosecute Shivakumar, following which an FIR was lodged against him and investigation undertaken on charges of disproportionate assets.

The current Karnataka cabinet headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on November 23 held that the previous BJP government's move to give consent to the CBI to investigate the DA case against Shivakumar was not in accordance with law and decided to withdraw the sanction.