Justice Surya Kant's bench to hear CBI, BJP MLA pleas against Karnataka deputy CM: SC
New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday said a bench led by Justice Surya Kant would hear pleas challenging Karnataka's decision to withdraw consent to investigate a disproportionate assets case against Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran noted that the pleas were earlier dealt by another bench headed by Justice Surya Kant.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Congress leader, said the CJI earlier said that political scores should be settled elsewhere and not in courts.
The CJI said that it would be in the best interest of justice, if the pleas are heard by another bench and directed that they be listed before Justice Surya Kant-led bench.
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In October last year, the CBI moved the top court against the state government's decision to withdraw its consent to the probe agency for investigating the DA case against Shivakumar.
Notices were issued on the plea of the probe agency.
BJP leader Basanagouda R Patil Yatnal also moved the top court on the issue.
The apex court sought responses from Shivakumar and the state government.
On September 17, last year, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan had issued notices to Shivakumar and the state government on the plea filed by Patil.
The current Karnataka cabinet headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on November 23, 2023, held the previous BJP government's 2019 move to give consent to the CBI to investigate the DA case against Shivakumar was not in accordance with law and decided to withdraw the sanction as a result.
The Karnataka High Court held as "non-maintainable" a petition filed by the CBI and a BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal challenging the Congress government's decision to withdraw the consent.
On August 29, last year, the high court had dismissed the plea, which also challenged the state government's December 26, 2023 order referring the Rs 74.93 crore DA case to the Lokayukta for investigation.
The CBI had alleged that Shivakumar amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2013 and 2018. He was a minister in the previous Congress government during this period.
The CBI registered a DA case against Shivakumar on October 3, 2020, based on the consent given by the BJP government on September 25, 2019, following a reference by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate corruption charges emerging from an income tax investigation.
The then BJP government subsequently granted sanction to the CBI to prosecute Shivakumar.
The politician was arrested by the ED in September 2019 on the basis of alleged money-laundering charges stemming from an Income-Tax department investigation against him between 2017 and 2019. He was released on bail in the ED case in October, 2019.
The top court quashed the money laundering case against Shivakumar saying it must be linked to the scheduled offence.
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Pak police registers case against unidentified gunmen for opening fire on LeT co-founder
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Lahore (PTI): Pakistan's Punjab Police on Friday registered a case against unidentified gunmen for opening fire on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) co-founder Amir Hamza, who suffered bullet injuries in the attack in Lahore.
On Thursday, two unidentified gunmen riding on a bike opened fire on the vehicle of the private TV channel 24NewsHD TV, owned by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, on Peco Road in Lahore near the TV channel's office.
In the attack, Hamza suffered bullet injuries.
"The FIR has been registered against unidentified gunmen, but it is sealed forthwith," a senior police officer told PTI.
He said the intelligence agencies have taken over this case from the police, and they are currently investigating the matter.
The channel's religious programme host Justice (retd.) Nazir Ahmed Ghazi and Hamza were in the vehicle when it was attacked. Hamza was shifted to a hospital for treatment.
Punjab police on Friday said that "upon receiving information about the incident, the SSP Operations immediately reached the scene and a high alert was imposed in the area. SSP Operations Tauqeer Naeem also met the affected individuals. Thankfully, all present in the vehicle remained safe during the firing."
It further said senior police officers of the Township and Chung, along with a heavy police contingent, were present at the scene.
"Police collected evidence from the site and initiated an investigation. Efforts to arrest the suspects are underway using CCTV footage and geo-fencing techniques. Search and sweep operations are being conducted at various locations, with scrutiny of suspicious individuals ongoing," police said.
It added that those involved in the incident will be traced and arrested soon.
The police sources said that Hamza has been shifted to his residence in Jauhar Town, Lahore, where police and agency personnel met him.
The leadership of the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), a political front of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's banned Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD), including Hafiz Saeed's son Hafiz Talha Saeed, also called on him.
TV host retired Justice Ghazi, who remained unhurt in the attack, remained a legal counsel for Hafiz Saeed, they said.
The PMML has strongly condemned the attack on Hamza and demanded that those involved in the incident be arrested immediately.
Hamza is regarded as LeT's second most important leader after its chief Hafiz Saeed, who has been in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2019 after getting convicted for several years in terror financing cases.
Hamza has been designated as a terrorist by the US. In the past, he served as the head of LeT's "special campaigns" department.
In 2018, Hamza formed a fundraising group for the LeT following a ban on the JuD and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation by the Pakistani government.
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