BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to place the report on the CD scandal, allegedly involving former BJP minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, before Additional Commissioner of Police Soumendu Mukherjee, who is heading the team, to pass appropriate orders and later submit it to the court in a sealed cover.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum passed the order after senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing the victim, pointed out that the report prepared by ACP MC Kavitha, the investigating officer in the absence of Mukherjee, was on leave for three months.
“The report submitted in the sealed cover has been opened. The said report has been perused. We are of the considered view that once the SIT was constituted, headed by Soumendu Mukherjee, the report prepared by Kavitha should have been placed before him and approved by him. Let this report be submitted before him for appropriate orders. Thereafter, it should be submitted before the court in a sealed cover on November 29, 2021, the next date of hearing,” the court stated in the order, after hearing a batch of petitions on the issue.
When the court asked the SIT whether its chief had signed the report, it was informed that it was not signed. Earlier, Indira Jaising had argued that the very constitution of the committee is bad in law and SIT is going to file a closure report. The contents of the report submitted to court in a sealed cover were leaked to the media, which is not acceptable as the matter is subjudice.