New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear four weeks CBI’s plea challenging the withdrawal of consent by the Karnataka government to investigate the disproportionate assets case against Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.
The matter came up before a bench comprising justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan. Another petition has been filed by Karnataka BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal on the same issue. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, contended before the bench that since the central agency has also filed the plea, the court could hear both matters together.
The CBI and the BJP leader challenged the Karnataka High Court's order of August 29, 2024. The apex court scheduled the hearing on both petitions on the same day after four weeks. The high court had declined to entertain petitions filed by the BJP leader and the CBI challenging the Congress government’s decision to withdraw consent for investigating the corruption case against Shivakumar.
The high court had also dismissed 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, Shivakumar had 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 state government and Shivakumar on his petition.
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