Karnataka HC dismisses BJP MLA Munirathna’s plea on creation of SIT to probe cases against him
Karnataka BJP MLA Munirathna Naidu has been accused of allegedly raping a political worker, demanding a bribe from a civil contractor, and abusing another contractor.
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The high court has indicated that the alleged incidents of extortion by the MLA are not restricted to 2019 alone but continued for five years, leading to the contractor getting fed up and filing a complaint in 2024.(File Photo)The Karnataka High Court has dismissed a plea filed by BJP MLA and former minister Munirathna Naidu challenging the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) by the Congress government in Karnataka to investigate three separate cases filed against him last year.
Naidu, who left the Congress in 2019 to join the BJP, is accused of allegedly demanding Rs 20 lakh from Bengaluru civil contractor Cheluvaraju for a solid waste disposal contract; of atrocities under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, for the alleged verbal abuse of a contractor; and the alleged rape of a political worker in his constituency.
The state government ordered that the Karnataka Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) form an SIT to probe the three cases against Munirathna.
The MLA challenged the creation of the SIT and the cases brought against him on the grounds that the allegations were from a long time ago, that the SIT did not comprise of officers of the CID as stated in the order for its creation, and that the SIT had been asked to submit a report to the government instead of the courts.
The Karnataka High Court overruled the MLA’s arguments and upheld the creation of the SIT.
The high court has indicated that the alleged incidents of extortion by the MLA are not restricted to 2019 alone but continued for five years, leading to the contractor getting fed up and filing a complaint in 2024. “Therefore, the investigation is not hit by delay,” the high court ruled on March 7.
The high court also dismissed the argument that the SIT did not consist of police officers drawn exclusively from the CID as “being factually incorrect” and “legally untenable”. “Merely because the Government order refers to a SIT of the CID it does not mean that it gets vitiated on account of other teammates in the SIT being drawn from other sources. The head of the investigation team is from CID is an admitted fact. The others would be to assist the head,” the high court pointed out. “Therefore, the submission that there is a flaw in the constitution of SIT, is itself a flawed submission and sans countenance,” the high court ruled.
On the claims that the government has directed the SIT to submit its probe report to the government rather than the concerned court, the high court ruled that the CID is declared to be a police station and hence a final probe report needs to be submitted to the court as well.
“The coordinate bench holds that merely because an order constituting SIT of the CID and directing submission of the report to the Government would not mean that it would get vitiated. The CID would also have power to file it before the concerned court,” the high court said.
The high court order is expected to have a bearing on several important cases in Karnataka which have been assigned to SITs by the government, including the rape cases against former MP Prajwal Revanna, the Bitcoin scam cases, and others.
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