New Delhi: The CBI has moved the Supreme Court challenging a decision of the Karnataka government to transfer its investigation into alleged disproportionate assets acquired by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, to state Lokayukta. The CBI had filed a disproportionate assets case against Shivakumar on October 3, 2020, with the consent of the previous BJP government on September 25, 2019.
On August 29, the Karnataka High Court dismissed the petitions filed by the central agency challenging the Congress government’s decision to withdraw consent for investigating the corruption case against Shivakumar. The High Court had termed the petitions as “non-maintainable”. Aggrieved by the High Court order, the central agency has moved to the top court.
Karnataka BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal had already moved the apex court against the High Court’s order. The High Court had also junked the CBI’s challenge to the state’s November 28, 2023, decision to withdraw consent for probing Shivakumar’s alleged illegal assets.
According to the central agency, it has been alleged that Shivakumar accumulated Rs 74.93 crore of wealth disproportionate to known sources of income from April 2013 to April 2018, while serving as the energy minister in a previous Congress government. The apex court in September 2024, on Yatnal’s petition, had sought a response from the Karnataka government and Shivakumar on his petition.
