BENGALURU: The special court to try criminal cases against sitting and former MPs/MLAs on Thursday directed the special public prosecutor (SPP) for Lokayukta police to produce before it the case diary related to the probe into the alleged irregularities in allotment of sites by MUDA by December 23 to pass its order on the ‘B’ report filed in the case against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and three others.
“Since the investigating agency has not placed any material with respect to further investigation, the court will have to proceed on the basis of the report which has been filed before it. Hence, SPP Venkatesh Arbatti is directed to furnish the case diary on or before the next date of hearing. Meanwhile, the complainant or the ED can file rejoinders if any,” said Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, shifting the hearing to December 23.
During the hearing, Arbatti filed the status report and submitted that a sanction order has to be obtained and the investigation is in its last stage. However, complainant Snehamayi Krishna opposed it and submitted that till this date no further investigation has been conducted with respect to the ‘B’ report in the case against accused Nos.1 to 4, (CM Siddaramaiah, his wife BM Parvathy, brother-in-law Mallikarjun and Devaraj). The investigating agency is prolonging the matter, he alleged.
Refuting this, the SPP said that they are ready to furnish the final copy of the report in a sealed cover and in order to show their credibility, the court has to permit him to submit the case diary.
The court noted that on the last date of hearing, it directed the authorities to complete the investigation, considering various aspects that had transpired in the case. It is pertinent to note that this court had deferred to pass any order on the ‘B’ report filed with regard to accused Nos.1 to 4 since the conclusive investigation was not completed, and it was requested by the investigating officer (IO) to conduct further investigation.
It may be recalled that the special court on October 9, granted two months to complete the probe. Referring to this, the special court on December 4 noted that the probe should be completed as expeditiously as possible and within an outer limit of two months from that day. This does not mean that those probing the case should complete the investigation only on the last day of the deadline, the court said.
The SPP had submitted that the IO is conducting the investigation expeditiously complying with the directions of the court. Taking it on record, the court had stated that it cannot grant any more adjournments.