Karnataka Lokayukta police register DA case against Deputy CM Shivakumar, await HC order

The Karnataka cabinet in November last year withdrew the previous BJP government’s decision to accord sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute Shivakumar, who is also Congress state unit President, in the disproportionate assets case registered against him, saying that it was not in accordance with the law.

Bengaluru: The police wing of the Karnataka Lokayukta has registered a case against Deputy Chief Minister and senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar, in connection with disproportionate assets allegations.

The First Information Report (FIR) was registered on February 8 under Section 13(2) (any public servant, who commits criminal misconduct shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall be not less than (four years), but which may extend to (ten years) and shall also be liable to fine and 13(1) (b) (if he intentionally enriches himself illicitly during the period of his office) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The FIR noted that a case was registered and investigations have begun.

The accusations pertain to a period between April 2013 and April 2018, when Shivakumar was a minister under the then Congress government.

It is alleged that during the period Shivakumar had accumulated assets worth Rs 74.93 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income.

During a Cabinet meeting in November 2023, the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah withdrew sanction given by the previous BJP government in 2019 to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to probe the allegations and later referred it to the Lokayukta.

The CBI had registered an FIR in 2020.

Well-placed sources in the Lokayukta suggested that the investigators had sought the respective case files from the central agency and were awaiting a response.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court has deferred the hearing of petitions by the CBI and BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal challenging the withdrawal of the sanction.

Will continue legal battle: DyCM

Speaking to reporters at the Vidhana Soudha, Shivakumar said: “I will continue the legal battle. I have done nothing wrong. The then Advocate General had said that my case cannot be given to the CBI. It was wrong for B S Yediyurappa’s government to sanction a CBI investigation. So our government withdrew it and gave it to the Lokayukta. Despite this, the CBI is still serving notices — I don’t know why.”