BENGALURU: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said he did no wrong and was facing a lot of trouble for only doing his party’s work.
Shivakumar’s remarks came after the Karnataka High Court permitted him to withdraw the appeal filed by him, challenging a single judge’s order refusing to quash a government sanction to the CBI to prosecute him in the assets case.
Responding to reporters’ queries on the High Court order at the Bengaluru Tech Summit, the Deputy CM said, “I do not want to comment on court matters without going through the order and discussing it with my lawyers. I was at the Bengaluru Tech Summit and am not aware of the high court order.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong. I was made to go through all this trouble as I stood by my party. The media is aware of all the developments. I have put up with all the troubles. For all the troubles they (the BJP-led Centre) gave me, the people gave them a befitting reply in Karnataka. If they give me any more trouble in future, the people will do the needful again. God is with me and I am grateful to all the people who stood by me through the tough times,” Shivakumar added.
The CBI filed an FIR against Shivakumar in 2018 and then CM BS Yediyurappa agreed to hand over the case to the central probe agency in 2019.
Earlier, on November 24, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called the probe against Shivakumar ‘unlawful’, adding that it was ordered without sanction from the then Assembly Speaker.
The CBI has filed an appeal against the Karnataka High Court order dated June 12, staying its probe into the disproportionate assets case against Shivakumar.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for CBI, urged the bench to vacate the stay on the probe.
The CBI was probing a case lodged against the deputy CM for allegedly holding assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Earlier, Income Tax sleuths had conducted a search against him. (ANI)