Supreme Court refuses to lift stay on CBI probe against DK Shivakumar in corruption case

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to interfere with a Karnataka High Court order that had put an interim stay on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar in connection with a corruption case..A bench of Justices BR Gavai, CT Ravikumar and PV Sanjay Kumar noted that the order under challenge by the CBI was only an interim order. The top court proceeded to direct the High Court to expeditiously dispose of the appeal and connected matters in the case..The Karnataka High Court had, in June, ordered an interim stay against the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led State government's order permitting the CBI to investigate the alleged role of Shivakumar in a corruption case concerning mining and real estate activities.On April 20, 2023, a plea filed by Shivakumar to quash the State Home Department's order was dismissed by Justice R Natarajan of the High Court. The Congress leader then moved a division bench of the High Court in appeal, which granted him interim relief by staying the CBI investigation until his challenge is decided by the Court. Meanwhile, Shivakumar was made the deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka after a new State government was formed by the Congress party, which was declared the winner of the State Assembly polls in May 2023.The High Court's June 2023 order of interim stay on the CBI probe against Shivakumar has now been challenged before the Supreme Court by the central agency. .The corruption case in question is rooted in a search carried out by the Income Tax Department in 2017. During a search by the Income Tax Department on August 2, 2017, at various locations including Delhi, ₹8.59 crores was found. Out of that, ₹41 lakh rupees was found at a place belonging to Shivakumar. This was followed by a case being registered by the income tax department officials.After this, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a case against Shivakumar under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Based on this, Shivakumar was arrested on September 3, 2019. Later, on September 9, 2019, relying on the ED's letter, the State government allowed the CBI to conduct an investigation..Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Shivakumar before the top court today. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju represented the CBI.