The Supreme Court on Monday turned down the CBI’s appeal challenging the Karnataka High Court order staying the probe in a disproportionate assets case against state Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, noting that the HC order was only an interim one. A bench of Justices B R Gavai, C T Ravikumar and Sanjay Kumar said “since the present Special Leave Petition arises out of purely an interlocutory order, we are not inclined to entertain the present petition”. The bench said that it has left all questions open for adjudication by the High Court and that the agency can approach the HC seeking expeditious hearing. The CBI had registered a corruption case against Shivakumar in October 2020. This followed the 2017 raid by the Income Tax Department and probe thereafter by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The state government had accorded its sanction in 2019. Shivakumar challenged the sanction & proceedings before the HC where a single judge stayed the probe but dismissed his plea. The Congress leader challenged this before a division bench which stayed the order.
