Disproportionate assets case: Special court rejects closure report, orders FIR against Karnataka minister

Disproportionate assets case: Special court rejects closure report, orders FIR against Karnataka minister

A special court in Bengaluru dealing exclusively with criminal cases involving the elected representatives has rejected a closure report filed by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in a disproportionate assets case against Housing Minister V Somanna.

Rejecting an ACB report of October 29, 2018, for closure of the case against Somanna, the special court also ordered filing of a criminal case and issuance of summons to the minister for court appearance by April 16.

The case against Somanna was filed by an RTI activist in 2013, accusing him of acquiring assets disproportionate (204 per cent) to his known sources of income. Somanna is a five-time MLA from Bengaluru and is considered close to former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

The ACB had earlier submitted a report to the court, stating that the income and expenditure is more than the assets of the accused, and that no corruption case is made out as a consequence.

The court, however, ruled that the police had not calculated the disproportionate assets according to an approved formula for assessing disproportionate wealth.

“On careful analysis of the sworn statement of the complainant and the documents produced by him, and the decisions cited by the learned counsel for the complainant, I am of the opinion that there are sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused,” the special court said in its order. “The investigation officer has not conducted the probe properly and not submitted the reports in accordance with the law by ignoring the formula to calculate disproportionate assets,” the court said.

In a private complaint filed in a court against Somanna in 2013, an RTI activist had alleged that there were huge discrepancies in the wealth declarations submitted by Somanna from 1993-94 to 2009-10 when he held public offices of a councillor, a legislator and a minister.

The activist had alleged that Somanna accumulated wealth to the tune of Rs 18.49 crore in the said period of which Rs 12.42 crore was in excess of his known sources of income.

Somanna had dismissed the complaint against him as pertaining to an old case based on wrong information.

The summons and the order for filing of a case for prosecution of Somanna has come at a time when the BJP is reportedly considering a re-jig in the state Cabinet ahead of the 2023 polls.