Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has criticized the Supreme Court’s dismissal of his petition challenging the CBI’s FIR against him in a disproportionate assets case as “unfair.” Speaking to the media, the senior Congress leader expressed his disappointment, stating, “This is a setback. What to do? This is unfair.”
Shivakumar plans to explore all legal avenues to file an appeal. He highlighted the political and vindictive nature of the case. In an interview to the NDTV, Shivakumar said, “When the BJP government was there they gave (the CBI) permission to register a FIR. I asked for it to be squashed but they said they cannot…”
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Despite the Congress government withdrawing the CBI’s permission to investigate and handing the case over to the Lokayukta, the CBI continues its probe. “At the same time the Karnataka government (after the Congress came to power) withdrew permission given to CBI and handed over case to the Lokayukta… so now CBI is continuing to investigate. All this despite the government withdrawing consent,” Shivakumar stated.
Earlier today, a bench comprising Justice Bela Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma ruled that the petition lacked merit and declined to interfere in the case.
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In 2020, the CBI filed a case against Shivakumar, alleging that he had amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2013 and 2018, amounting to Rs 74 crore. The FIR was previously challenged and rejected by the High Court in 2021. The Congress government withdrew consent for the CBI’s inquiry last year, a move criticized by the opposition BJP and JDS as “immoral” and aimed at “protecting” Shivakumar.
On the ongoing Cauvery water-sharing issue, the Deputy Chief Minister expressed optimism about the recent rains. “I am happy to say we are getting good rains. We should be in a better position in days to come,” he said.
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have long been at odds over the sharing of the Cauvery River’s waters. Recently, Karnataka decided to release only 8,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu, instead of the 11,500 cusecs required daily from July 12 to July 31. Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK, allied with Congress, criticized the move, with Chief Minister MK Stalin asserting it violated the Supreme Court’s order.
