The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Karnataka High Court order, which granted an interim stay on probe against Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a disproportionate assets case.
The Bench led by Justice B.R. Gavai refused to entertain the petition filed by the investigating agency against the High Court verdict on the grounds that the present SLP arose purely out of an interlocutory order.
However, the Apex Court kept all the questions available to the parties open and granted liberty to the petitioner to approach the High Court for expeditious disposal of the case.
The top court of the country further directed the High Court to consider the matter on its merits.
On February 10, the High Court of Karnataka stayed the CBI investigation in a case registered against Shivakumar under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act. The High Court had extended the stay repeatedly on different dates.
The case pertained to a raid conducted by the Income Tax Department in 2017 against Shivakumar. On the basis of this raid, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had started a probe against the Congress leader under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Later, the CBI sought sanction from the state government to file an FIR against Shivakumar, which was granted on September 25, 2019.
CBI booked the Congress leader on October 3, 2020 under the PC Act. The KPCC chief approached the High Court against the sanction and proceedings against him.
He alleged that CBI was applying mental pressure on him ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections by repeatedly issuing notices to him, even though the case dated back to 2020.