New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Monday declined to lift the stay on the CBI investigation into a case of alleged possession of disproportionate assets by Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar saying the man is not running away anywhere. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the CBI, submitted before a bench led by Justice Aniruddha Bose that the 90% investigation has been completed in the matter. Raju contended the stay was granted on a "false" statement made in an affidavit, and urged the court to issue a direction to lift the stay.
The apex court said, "We are not staying it ex parte. The man is not running away anywhere”, and added that it would examine the matter. The bench, also comprising Justice Bela M Trivedi, issued notice to Karnataka Congress chief Shivakumar and put the matter for further hearing on November 7, 2023.
The CBI has claimed that Shivakumar amassed Rs 74.93 crore of wealth, disproportionate to known sources of income, from April 2013 to April 2018, when he was the Energy Minister in the Congress-led Karnataka government. In October 2020, the CBI filed an FIR against him on charges of corruption, based on the findings of the income-tax department’s searches carried out in August 2017 at around 70 premises linked to him
A single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court, in February this year, led by Justice K Natarajan granted temporary relief to Shivakumar in connection with a Rs 74 crore disproportionate assets case of 2020, being investigated by the CBI. In April, the single judge dismissed his plea. A division bench led by Chief Justice Prasanna B Varle, however, had in June 2023 stayed the single judge bench order.
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