New Delhi: The Supreme Court has refused to lift the stay on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar in a corruption case. The court declined to interfere with the Karnataka High Court’s interim order that had stayed the CBI’s investigation into Shivakumar’s alleged involvement in corruption related to mining and real estate activities.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai, CT Ravikumar, and PV Sanjay Kumar noted that the order under challenge by the CBI was an interim order. The Supreme Court directed the High Court to expedite the disposal of the appeal and connected matters in the case.
The Karnataka High Court had earlier issued an interim stay against the BJP-led State government’s decision to permit the CBI to investigate DK Shivakumar in the corruption case. Shivakumar had filed a plea to quash the State Home Department’s order in April 2023, but it was dismissed by the High Court. Subsequently, he appealed to the division bench of the High Court, which granted him interim relief by staying the CBI investigation until his challenge was decided.
DK Shivakumar was appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka after the Congress party formed a new State government and won the State Assembly polls in May 2023.
The corruption case in question originated from a search conducted by the Income Tax Department in 2017. During the search, a sum of ₹8.59 crores was found at various locations, including ₹41 lakh rupees at a place linked to Shivakumar. As a result, a case was registered by the income tax department, and later, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a case against Shivakumar under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He was subsequently arrested on September 3, 2019.
Following the ED’s investigation, the State government allowed the CBI to conduct a probe into the matter based on their letter on September 9, 2019.
In the recent proceedings before the Supreme Court, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented DK Shivakumar, while Additional Solicitor General SV Raju represented the CBI.
