The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar challenging a High Court order that refused to quash the proceedings initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against him in a disproportionate assets (DA) case under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
The matter was placed before the Bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma.
Appearing for Shivakumar, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi contended that the investigation commenced without obtaining the sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
He referred to the Chandrababu Naidu case and noted that whether Section 17A applied to the offences allegedly committed before the 2018 amendment (which inserted Section 17A) was referred to a larger bench.
The Apex Court, however, observed that the proceedings cannot be quashed based on a split verdict.
Rohatgi stated that he was merely requesting for issuance of notice on the petition.
The Bench further noted the allegation of Rs 41 lakh being recovered from Shivakumar.
Rohatgi clarified that it was an allegation in the proceedings under the Income Tax Act. He argued that there could not be a CBI FIR on the very same issue.
However, the Bench said that the case was related to a separate offence under the PC Act. The Income Tax authorities cannot prosecute under the PC Act, it added.
The Apex Court further expressed its disapproval of the High Court’s order for staying the sanction accorded to CBI.
The Counsels appearing for Shivakumar then apprised the Court that the Karnataka government has withdrawn the consent accorded to CBI.
In August 2017, the Income Tax department carried out a raid at various premises of Shivakumar in New Delhi and other places. It collected an amount of around Rs 8.6 crore, out of which Rs 41 lakh was allegedly recovered from Shivakumar’s premises.
A case was subsequently registered against Shivakumar before the Special Court for Economic Offences under provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Based upon the income tax case, ED also registered a case and Shivakumar was arrested on September 3, 2019.
On September 9, 2019, ED issued a letter to the Karnataka government under Section 66(2) of PMLA, following which, sanction against Shivakumar was accorded and the matter was referred to CBI for investigation.
Shivakumar moved the Karnataka High Court challenging the sanction and proceedings against him.
In April 2023, a single-judge bench dismissed his petition. However, the High Court granted the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief temporary relief by staying the CBI probe on multiple occasions. The single-judge Bench’s dismissal led Shivakumar to file an appeal before a division bench.
The interim orders were challenged by CBI through a special leave petition, but the Supreme Court in July refused to entertain the agency’s plea arising out of ‘purely interlocutory’ orders.
In October 2023, the top Court issued notice on a plea by CBI challenging Karnataka High Court’s June 2023 order which stayed the investigation against Shivakumar in the disproportionate assets case.
This plea was ultimately dismissed on November 10. However, the High Court was requested to consider the application filed by CBI for vacating the stay granted and the appeal pending before it preferably within two weeks.
The Karnataka government then withdrew consent accorded to CBI and the High Court permitted Shivakumar to withdraw his petition challenging the consent to prosecute him.
Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Vipin Sanghi, along with Advocates Mayank Jain, Madhur Jain, Parmatama Singh, Arpit Goel and Aakriti Dhawan, appeared for Shivakumar.