BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court rejected a petition filed by MLA Munirathna, questioning the legality of a complaint filed by a contractor that he demanded money and also the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case.
Justice M Nagaprasanna rejected the petition, observing that it is meritless.
Contractor Cheluvaraju filed a complaint against Munirathna at the Vyalikaval police station on September 13, 2024, alleging that the MLA demanded money from him to carry on with his garbage disposal work.
The court said the coordinate bench of the high court held that merely because an order constituting SIT and directing submission of report to the government would not mean it would get vitiated. The CID also has powers to file it before the court concerned.
The court said the SIT can be constituted to investigate a crime by drawing officers from different departments. Merely because the government order refers to an SIT, it does not mean that it gets vitiated on account of other teammates in the SIT being drawn from other sources. The submission of the petitioner’s counsel that there is a flaw in the constitution of SIT is itself a flawed submission and sans countenance, the court said.
Three crimes, including rape, had been registered against the petitioner. The investigation was initially handed over to the CID. Later, the state government constituted an SIT to investigate the crimes.