In a setback for Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed his petition challenging the CBI’s FIR in the disproportionate assets case.
A bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma stated it was not inclined to interfere with the Karnataka High Court’s order. “Sorry. Dismissed,” the bench said.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Shivakumar, argued that the investigation began without obtaining the necessary sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Rohatgi also contended that a CBI FIR could not be filed for the same transaction while the Income Tax (IT) department was already investigating the matter.
However, the bench declined to entertain the matter. The top court was reviewing Shivakumar’s plea against the Karnataka High Court’s October 19, 2023, order, which had rejected his plea and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conclude the investigation and file a report within three months.
The CBI alleges that Shivakumar amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2013 and 2018, during his tenure as a minister in the previous Congress government. The FIR was filed by the CBI on September 3, 2020. Shivakumar had challenged the FIR in the high court in 2021.
In 2017, the IT department conducted a search and seizure operation at Shivakumar’s offices and residence, leading to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiating its own probe. Based on the ED’s investigation, the CBI sought sanction from the state government to file an FIR against Shivakumar. The state government granted this sanction on September 25, 2019, and the FIR was filed a year later.
Shivakumar had also challenged the state’s sanction in a separate petition, which was dismissed by the high court earlier.