NEW DELHI: In a major setback to Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, the Supreme Court on Monday rejected his appeal challenging a High Court order that had refused to quash the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) disproportionate assets (DA) case against him under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.Shivakumar had filed the appeal before the apex court challenging the October 19 order of the High Court dismissing his plea for quashing the DA case.A two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, did not find any merit in his prayers and rejected Shivakumar’s appeal.Opposing the arguments of the prosecution, senior advocate and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Shivakumar, argued that the CBI had started its probe without obtaining the mandatory sanction under Section 17A of the PC Act.According to the CBI case, the Income Tax department had carried out a raid in 2017 at various premises of Shivakumar in New Delhi and other places.The agency collected a total of Rs 8,59,69,100, out of which Rs 41 lakhs were allegedly recovered from Shivakumar’s premises. He could not convince the agency as to where this amount had come from and how he came to possess it, the CBI alleged.After the raid, a case was registered by the CBI against Shivakumar before the Special Court for Economic Offences under provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. It is also to be noted that following this IT case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also registered a case against the Deputy CM, and he was subsequently arrested on September 3, 2019.
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