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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Temple priest, aide among three arrested for journalist's murder in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur
Sitapur (UP) (PTI): Police recently arrested three men, including a temple priest, in connection with the murder of a journalist, who was shot dead on the Sitapur-Delhi National Highway on March 8, officials said.
Two shooters who carried out the attack on Raghavendra Bajpai -- a resident of Maholi who worked with a Hindi daily -- remain at large and efforts are underway to arrest them, they added.
Sitapur SP Chakraesh Mishra had formed three teams to investigate the case, which questioned more than 100 suspects and scanned around 250 CCTV camera feeds, leading to the arrests.
"The probe revealed the involvement of Shivananda Baba alias Vikas Rathore, a priest at the Karedev Baba temple in Maholi. CCTV camera footage showed two men loitering around the temple suspiciously near Bajpai's residence around the time of the incident. After further probe, police arrested Shivananda Baba, his close aide Nirmal Singh, and Aslam Ghazi," the SP said.
"Their interrogation revealed that Bajpai reportedly saw Shivananda in a compromising position within the temple, which could have severely damaged the latter's reputation.
"Shivananda narrated the incident to Nirmal Singh, who, with the help of Aslam Ghazi, orchestrated a contract killing to eliminate Bajpai. Two shooters were hired for the job," the officer said.
Three teams from the Crime Branch and seven teams from the Special Task Force (STF) are currently conducting raids to nab the shooters.
A reward of Rs 25,000 each has been announced for information leading to the duo's arrest, the SP said.
