The Karnataka High Court on Thursday declared a petition by the Central Bureau of Investigation as “non-maintainable.”
The petition had challenged the Congress government’s decision to revoke the CBI’s consent to investigate a disproportionate assets case against Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.
The division bench, comprising Justices K Somashekar and Umesh M Adiga, also dismissed the plea against the State government’s December 26, 2023, order, which referred the Rs 74.93 crore DA case to the Lokayukta for investigation. In its 67-page judgment, the High Court stated that the issues raised should be taken up with the Supreme Court.
The CBI had previously accused Shivakumar of accumulating assets disproportionate to his known income between 2013 and 2018, during his tenure as a minister in the previous Congress government. The earlier BJP government had granted the CBI permission to prosecute Shivakumar, leading to the lodging of an FIR and an investigation.
However, the current Karnataka cabinet, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, decided on November 23 that the previous BJP government’s consent to the CBI’s investigation was not legally valid and moved to withdraw the sanction.
