Supreme Court dismisses DKS’ petition challenging CBI FIR on him

NEW DELHI: In a blow to the Congress government in Karnataka, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar challenging the CBI's FIR against him in the disproportionate assets case.

A bench of justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma said it was not inclined to interfere with the Karnataka high court order. "Sorry. Dismissed," the bench said.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Mr Shivakumar, submitted that the investigation in the matter started without obtaining the sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Mr Rohatgi said there cannot be a CBI FIR for the same transaction when the Income Tax (IT) department is already investigating the matter. The bench, however, declined to entertain the matter.

The apex court was hearing a plea filed by Mr Shivakumar against the October 19, 2023 order of the high court which rejected his plea.

The high court had directed the CBI to conclude the investigation and file the report within three months.

The CBI alleged that Mr Shivakumar amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2013 and 2018. He was a minister in the previous Congress government during this period.

The FIR was filed by the CBI on September 3, 2020. Mr Shivakumar challenged the FIR in the high court in 2021.

The IT department had conducted a search and seizure operation in the offices and residence of Mr Shivakumar in 2017, based on which the ED started its own probe against him.

On the basis of ED investigation, the CBI sought sanction from the state government to file an FIR against him. The sanction was granted by the state government on September 25, 2019 and the FIR was filed a year later.

Mr Shivakumar had challenged the sanction granted by the state in a separate petition which was dismissed by the high court earlier.