The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider the CBI's plea against the Karnataka High Court's order which granted interim stay on a probe into a case related to disproportionate assets allegedly acquired by Deputy Chief Minister and Congress state president D K Shivakumar.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, C T Ravikumar and Sanjay Kumar dismissed the CBI's petition as senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for Shivakumar, submitted that the matter was pending adjudication before High Court's division bench.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju on behalf of the CBI submitted that the agency had filed a separate plea against the stay also granted by the division bench. He said both the pleas, including the one against the similar stay order by the single judge bench, should be considered together.
Singhvi, for his part, said the plea by the CBI was against the interim orders. He said the matter was at the stage of final adjudication before the High Court.
In its order, the bench said, "Since the present special leave petition arises out of purely an interlocutory order, we are not inclined to entertain the present petition. All questions available to parties are kept open for adjudication by the High Court.”
In February this year, a single-judge bench of the HC led by Justice K Natarajan granted Shivakumar temporary relief in connection with a Rs 74 crore disproportionate assets case of 2020, being investigated by the CBI.
The central agency has claimed Shivakumar amassed Rs 74.93 crore of wealth, disproportionate to known sources of income, from April 2013 to April 2018, when he was the energy minister in the Congress-led Karnataka government.
The CBI filed the FIR against him in October 2020 on charges of corruption, based on the findings of the Income Tax Department’s searches carried out in August 2017 at around 70 premises linked to him.