Karnataka HC rejects DK Shivakumar’s petition challenging CBI FIR, announces verdict today

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday rejected the petition filed by Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar, challenging the CBI’s FIR against him.
Justice K. Natarajan, who concluded the hearing and reserved the judgement earlier, announced the verdict today.

Additionally, the HC directed the CBI to conclude the investigation and file the report within three months. Justice Natarajan reasoned that since the CBI has concluded most of the investigation, the court wouldn’t interfere at this juncture.

The CBI is at the stage of filing a charge sheet, having completed gathering statements from the accused. While the operative portion of the judgement rejecting Shivakumar’s petition was dictated, the complete judgement copy is awaited.

Furthermore, the CBI has alleged that Shivakumar amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2013 and 2018. He served as a minister in the previous Congress government during this period.

The FIR was filed by the CBI on September 3, 2020. Shivakumar challenged the FIR in the high court in 2021.

In 2017, the Income Tax Department conducted a search and seizure operation in the offices and residence of Shivakumar, based on which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated its own probe against him.

Following the ED investigation, the CBI sought sanction from the state government to file an FIR against him. The sanction was granted by the state government on September 25, 2019, and the FIR was filed a year later.

Earlier, Shivakumar challenged the sanction granted by the state in a separate petition, which was dismissed by the high court.