Supreme Court to hear CBI plea against Karnataka HC staying probe against Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar

The Supreme Court on Wednesday listed for hearing after May 23, a petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the Karnataka High Court order staying CBI probe against President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, D.K. Shivakumar, booked in a corruption case.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Shivakumar, apprised the Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai that the matter would come up before the High Court for hearing on Tuesday. He added that this was an interim order. 

The Apex Court then said that it would hear the matter after May 23.

Appearing for CBI, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju said that the only issue, which could probably come up, was that the Supreme Court was going for summer vacations from May 19. 

Justice Gavai then pointed out that two benches of the Apex Court would be sitting everyday during the vacations. It gave liberty to CBI to approach the Vacation Bench.

Singhvi then quoted Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, who recently said that in the first week of summer vacations, the Apex Court would be dealing with around 300 cases.

The High Court of Karnataka had last month dismissed a petition filed by Shivakumar, seeking to quash the sanction for prosecution granted by the State to CBI to investigate the offences alleged against him under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Single-Judge Bench of Justice K. Natarajan had observed that the impugned order was merely a consent given by the state government under Section 6 of the DSPE Act, adding that it was not a sanction as required under either Sections 19 or 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The High Court was apprised that the Income Tax department had carried out a raid in August 2017 at various premises of Shivakumar in New Delhi and other places and seized Rs 8,59,69,100. It was alleged that Rs 41 lakh were recovered from the premises of the Karnataka Congress chief.

A case was registered against Shivakumar before the Special Court for Economic Offences under the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Based on this, the Directorate of Enforcement also registered a case and arrested Shivakumar on September 3, 2019.

The office of the Special Director of ED further issued a letter to the state government on September 9, 2019 under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The government of Karnataka then accorded sanction against Shivakumar, referring the matter to CBI for investigating the case.

(Case title: DK Shivakumar vs State of Karnataka)