Halappa case: CID told to complete probe by Mar

Hearing an appeal by the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) seeking to vacate the stay on the probe into Halappa’s alleged involvement in the sex scandal, the Division Bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice A S Bopanna disposed of the petition with a direction to CID to complete the probe and submit the report before the competent court.

Earlier during the hearing, when the counsel for the appellants said that the matter needed to be probed by the CBI, the Bench asked why it should not be done by agencies in the State.

K S R Charan Reddy, Deputy Inspector General, CID, who appeared before the court, submitted that the investigation was nearing completion and he himself was supervising the matter.

The government counsel too submitted that the State agencies were fully equipped for a fair and impartial probe.

The Bench, entrusting the matter to CID, observed, only the rarest of the rare cases can be entrusted to CBI. In cases where there are no serious allegations, the State agency be entrusted with the responsibility to investigate the matter.

The SHRC had registered a suo motu complaint against Halappa in connection with allegations against the former minister of raping Chandravathi, wife of his friend Venkatesh Murthy. The alleged victim had lodged a complaint with SHRC against the minister.

SHRC had suggested that the matter be handed over to CBI for investigation. However, the State had moved the High Court and obtained a stay in this connection. Halappa, who was in police custody, came out on bail in June 2010.