HC seeks report on charge sheet in fake voter ID case

The high court on Wednesday directed the Director-General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) to appoint a senior IPS officer to look into the charge sheet filed in the Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency voter ID case registered during the 2018 Assembly elections.

The case was against Munirathna, who incidentally won from the very constituency on a BJP ticket in the recently concluded bypoll, and others after the seizure of voter ID cards from an apartment in Jalahalli.

A division bench, headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, was hearing the PIL filed seeking CBI investigation in the case. The bench directed the DG&IGP to appoint a senior IPS officer to look into the charge sheet filed in the case and also to ascertain if further investigation is required in the case.

The officer has to report whether proper investigation has been conducted in the case. The officer has been directed to submit the report in a sealed envelope on the next date of hearing. The bench said the officer shall also look into the grievances which will be submitted to him by the petitioners in the PIL.

During the hearing, senior advocate A S Ponnanna, appearing for the petitioners, contended that the investigating officer has left out certain key witnesses in the case. He argued that a further investigation can still be ordered even after the filing of the charge sheet. The PIL filed by N Anand Kumar and G Santosh Kumar alleged that the police have not conducted a proper investigation in the case and requested the court to hand over the case to the CBI. However, the CBI had expressed its inability to take up the investigation.

It could be recalled that 9,746 voter IDs were seized from SLV Park View Apartment in Jalahalli on May 8, 2018, four days before the polls. The case was registered at the Jalahalli police station and Munirathna, then a Congress candidate from RR Nagar constituency, was named as an accused.