Justice Surya Kant led bench to hear plea against D K Shivakumar in disproportionate assets case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered for fixing a matter related to the Karnataka government's decision to withdraw consent to the CBI to investigate a disproportionate assets case against Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, before a bench led by Justice Surya Kant.

A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran pointed out that the matter was earlier dealt by the bench headed by Justice Surya Kant.

Senior advocate Abhishek M Singhvi, appearing for the Congress leader, said the CJI earlier said that political scores should be settled elsewhere and not in courts.

The bench, however, said that it would be in the best interest of justice, if the pleas are heard by the bench led by Justice Surya Kant, who earlier heard the matter.

The CBI and BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, later suspended by the party, challenged the Karnataka High Court's order of August 29, 2024. The court had already issued notice on the separate pleas.

The Karnataka High Court had then dismissed petitions filed by Yatnal and the CBI challenging the Congress government’s decision to withdraw consent for investigating the corruption case against Shivakumar.

The High Court had termed the petitions as “non-maintainable”.

The High Court also dismissed the CBI’s challenge to the state’s November 28, 2023, decision to withdraw consent for probing Shivakumar’s alleged illegal assets.

The CBI filed a disproportionate assets case against Shivakumar on October 3, 2020, with the consent of the previous BJP government on September 25, 2019.

The central agency alleged that Shivakumar accumulated Rs 74.93 crore of wealth disproportionate to known sources of income from April 2013 to April 2018, while serving as the energy minister in a previous Congress government.