'Vindictive': DKShi hits out at BJP govt for giving sanction to CBI to prosecute him in DA case
Bengaluru, Apr 21: Congress state president D K Shivakumar on Friday hit out at the BJP government in Karnataka for giving sanction to the CBI to prosecute him in a disproportionate assets case, calling it "vindictive".
The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday dismissed the petition by Shivakumar challenging the sanction.
Shivakumar claimed that the government did not take the Speaker's consent before giving the sanction nor did it take note of the Advocate General's purported remark that his was not a fit case for a CBI probe.
"The vindictive BJP government has given permission for a CBI inquiry," Shivakumar told reporters here. "The speaker's consent should have been there, which they have not done. Even the advocate general has said that this is not a fit case for the CBI," the former minister added.
Quoting the Advocate General, he said the Lokayukta or the Anti-Corruption Bureau could have investigated the matter. "But in order to torture me, the government has recommended it to the CBI. So I have appealed to the court," he said.
After the HC rejected his plea, Shivakumar said he would approach the higher court.
On whether this was a "pressure tactic", Shivakumar, who is seeking re-election from Kanakapura constituency in the May 10 Assembly elections, said that was "obvious".
"The BJP is harassing the opposition government be it West Bengal, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, or Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi," he alleged.
Following a request by the CBI, the State government had given sanction to prosecute Shivakumar on September 25, 2019, based on which it had filed an FIR against him on October 3, 2020.
The state Congress chief had challenged both the sanction and the FIR in two separate petitions before the high court. Earlier this week, the HC reserved its judgment on the petition challenging the sanction. On Wednesday, it adjourned the hearing of the other petition challenging the FIR to May 30. On Thursday evening, the single-judge bench of Justice K Natarajan dismissed the petition challenging the sanction.
The Income Tax Department had conducted a search and seizure operation in the offices and residence of Shivakumar in 2017. Based on the operation, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) started its own probe against him. Based on the ED investigation, the CBI sought sanction from the State government to file an FIR against him.
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Shivakumar had challenged the sanction on the grounds that it was a politically motivated FIR, and three earlier FIRs had already been filed against him in relation to disproportionate income.
Since he was an MLA, the permission of the Speaker of the Assembly had to be obtained which was not done in this case. Also, the government did not mention the reasons for granting the sanction to prosecute, Shivakumar said.
The CBI had objected to Shivakumar's petition in court, stating that the accused could not demand which agency should conduct the investigation against him. It argued that since the CBI was enacted under a special act, there was no need to mention the reasons to grant sanction for prosecution.
The CBI claimed that 90 per cent of the investigation was complete, and also submitted a status report to the court. Since it is a special case related to disproportionate income, the petition was sought to be dismissed.
Shivakumar has been charged under Section 13(2), Section 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
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US SC rejects 26/11 attack accused Tahawwur Rana’s plea seeking stay on his extradition to India
New York, Apr 7 (PTI): The US Supreme Court has rejected 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana's appeal seeking a stay on his extradition to India, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities to face justice.
Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles.
He is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. Headley conducted a recce of Mumbai before the attacks by posing as an employee of Rana’s immigration consultancy.
Rana had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' on February 27, 2025, with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan.
Kagan had denied the application earlier last month.
Rana had then renewed his ‘Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan’, and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts.
An order on the Supreme Court website noted that Rana's renewed application had been “distributed for Conference” on April 4 and the “application” has been “referred to the Court.”
A notice on the Supreme Court website Monday said that “Application denied by the Court.”
Rana was convicted in the US of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist plot in Denmark and one count of providing material support to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashker-e-Taiba which was responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
New York-based Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra had told PTI that Rana had made his application to the Supreme Court to prevent extradition, which Justice Kagan denied on March 6. The application was then submitted before Roberts, “who has shared it with the Court to conference so as to harness the entire Court’s view.”
The Supreme Court justices are Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In his emergency application, Rana had sought a stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13.
In that petition, Rana argued that his extradition to India violates US law and the UN Convention Against Torture "because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture."
"The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” the application said.
The application also said that his “severe medical conditions” render extradition to Indian detention facilities a “de facto" death sentence in this case.
The US Supreme Court denied Rana's petition for a writ of certiorari relating to his original habeas petition on January 21. The application notes that on that same day, newly-confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio had met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington on February 12 to meet with Trump, Rana’s counsel received a letter from the Department of State, stating that “on February 11, 2025, the Secretary of State decided to authorise” Rana’s "surrender to India,” pursuant to the “Extradition Treaty between the United States and India”.
Rana’s Counsel requested from the State Department the complete administrative record on which Secretary Rubio based his decision to authorize Rana’s surrender to India.
The Counsel also requested immediate information of any commitment the United States has obtained from India with respect to Rana’s treatment. “The government declined to provide any information in response to these requests,” the application said.
It added that given Rana’s underlying health conditions and the State Department’s findings regarding the treatment of prisoners, it is very likely “Rana will not survive long enough to be tried in India".
During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi in the White House in February, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil" Rana, wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, "to face justice in India”.
A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations in Mumbai.
