Karnataka High Court stays notice issued by Lokayukta police to Shrinath Mahadev Joshi

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday stayed the June 15, 2025 notice issued by the Lokayukta police to Shrinath Mahadev Joshi, who was relieved on June 12 as the Superintendent of Police (Bengaluru City-1), Lokayukta.

The Lokayukta police had issued a notice calling upon him to appear for an enquiry in a case involving alleged extortionist Ningappa Savant, at present in judicial custody.

Justice SR Krishna Kumar passed this interim order while indicating that the investigation against the other persons may continue. On Tuesday, the court stayed the investigation against NIngappa.

In his petition, Joshi stated that he had been working as Superintendent of Police at Lokayukta since 2022. He claimed that the Lokayukta police had wrongly called upon him for enquiry whereas his name is not mentioned in the FIR. He stated that the Lokayukta police had searched his house on June 15 and collected some documents, such as Aadhaar card of his family members, one old white sheet, personal notebook and design bridge diary.

He has also stated that as per the apex court judgement, except in cases under the POCSO Act and offences relating to insurgency, all FIRs have to be uploaded. However, in the case at hand, on perusal of notice, it does not disclose any sensitive or exceptional case for holding the crime so registered from public, he stated.

He also said that as per the judgement of the Karnataka High Court, copies of the FIR and the complaint have to be enclosed to the notice issued by the police calling upon any person for investigation. The notice issued to him does not have these documents, the petition said. The officer has further stated that when he was SP, Chitradurga five years ago, Ningappa Savant was his subordinate. “Other than this, the petitioner has no connection with Ningappa Savant. Thus, implicating the petitioner in this case, is only to harm the excellent service record of the petitioner,” the petition said.

Meanwhile, in a related development, the high court has directed the Lokayukta police to respond on Thursday to the petition filed by Ningappa’s wife Chandrakala GK challenging the arrest. During the hearing, Justice SR Krishna Kumar orally said that there is no material to show that grounds of arrest were provided by the Lokayukta police while executing his arrest.

The counsel for the Lokayukta police submitted that while the grounds of arrest were provided, an acknowledgement was not received. Objecting to such claims, it was submitted that Chandrakala had visited the Lokayukta office on the morning of June 2 and met Inspector General of Police Subramanyeshwara Rao.

The counsel said that if the CCTV footage and the visitors’ register is summoned, these claims would be established. The counsel further reiterated that Ningappa was detained at Hosadurga in Chitradurga district on May 31, the Lokayukta police showed his arrest from Maruti Ground in Rajaji Nagar, Bengaluru only at 9.30 pm on June 2.