Election petitions should ideally be disposed within 6 months: K'taka HC
Bengaluru, Sep 8: The Karnataka High Court has observed that election petitions should ideally be disposed within six months.
It derided the habit of dragging such petitions till the next elections.
Justice Krishna S Dixit made this observation while hearing an election petition filed in 2018 by Muniraju Gowda, who as the BJP candidate, lost the Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly seat to the then Congress candidate Munirathna Naidu, who is now a minister in the BJP government.
The court made this observation during the arguments when the counsels for both the petitioner and respondent were struggling to verify some of the documents submitted. The court said it was not prudent to waste the court's time in such cases.
Muniraju Gowda had filed the petition under the Representation of the People Act seeking the disqualification of Naidu.
Naidu subsequently joined the BJP and won the same assembly seat from the party in a by-election. While, Gowda is now an MLC from the ruling party.
Gowda deposed before the court on Thursday. He reiterated his allegation that Naidu had got officers of various departments transferred to places of his choice before the election was announced.
He also submitted documents to the HC regarding other cases that are pending in lower courts regarding his complaint about alleged corruption by Naidu.
Gowda also claimed he has filed complaints alleging corruption against Naidu, who was a powerful man, and a criminal case was also pending before the special court to try cases against politicians.
While Muniraju was deposing from the witness box, Justice Dixit directed the court officer to provide him a chair in the witness box itself saying there was no need for him to stand.
After a chair was provided, the Justice in a lighter vein said that people are attached to chairs (read position) and Gowda should leave this chair behind in the court after the hearing.
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Bengaluru: Four arrested for housebreaking, threats, extortion; fake PSI among accused
Bengaluru: Vidyaranyapura police have arrested four persons, including a man posing as a Police Sub-Inspector (PSI), for allegedly breaking into a house, threatening the occupants, and extorting money while wearing police uniforms.
The arrested accused have been identified as Mallikarjuna, Pramod, Vinay, and Hrithik.
Police said the accused had hatched a plan to pose as police personnel, conduct fake raids, and extort money from residents by intimidation.
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According to the police, Mallikarjuna had failed the PSI examination twice and later falsely projected himself as a PSI. He allegedly conducted photo shoots in his hometown, Siraguppa, wearing a police uniform, baton, cap, and shoes, claiming to be serving as a PSI in Bengaluru.
On December 7, the four accused allegedly went to the house of Naveen in the Vidyaranyapura limits, threatened him with a stick and an iron rod, and claimed they had information that he was selling ganja. Under the pretext of searching, they allegedly extorted ₹87,000 through bank transfer, ₹53,000 in cash kept in the house, and ₹2,000 from his wallet.
Following Naveen’s complaint, Vidyaranyapura police registered a case and launched an operation, leading to the arrest of all four accused. Police have seized ₹45,000 in cash and the car used to commit the crime.
Further investigation is underway.
