Karnataka High Court Rules Against CBI in D K Shivakumar DA Case
The Karnataka High Court ruled on Thursday that a petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the Congress government’s withdrawal of consent for an investigation into Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar‘s disproportionate assets (DA) case is “non-maintainable.”
A division bench, consisting of Justices K Somashekar and Umesh M Adiga, also dismissed the CBI’s appeal against the state’s December 26, 2023, order, which referred the DA case involving Rs 74.93 crore to the Lokayukta for further investigation.
In a detailed 67-page judgment, the High Court indicated that the matters raised in the petition should be resolved by the Supreme Court. The bench had reserved its judgment on the issue on August 12.
The CBI had previously claimed that between 2013 and 2018, Shivakumar amassed assets that exceeded his known sources of income while he was a minister in the former Congress government. The former BJP government had granted the CBI permission to prosecute Shivakumar, leading to the filing of an FIR and subsequent investigations into the disproportionate assets allegations.
However, on November 23, the current Karnataka cabinet, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, concluded that the previous BJP government’s consent for the CBI to investigate Shivakumar was legally invalid and opted to withdraw the sanction.
