More Stories

Informist, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024

NEW DELHI – The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday quashed proceedings pending before an Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bengaluru City against former Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel for alleged extortion of money under the electoral bond scheme. "Proceedings in Crime No.224 of 2024 arising out of PCR No.4880 of 2024 pending before the XLII(42) Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bengaluru City stand quashed qua the petitioner(Kateel)," said the court.

"Therefore, I have no hesitation to hold that the complaint suffers from want of locus to register the complaint even for offence punishable under Section 384 of the IPC(Indian Penal Code) for extortion," said Justice M. Nagaprasanna. The magistrate who has referred the matter for investigation in terms of his order does not refer to this issue, said the judge. "Merely because the complainant has registered a complaint which projects alleged extortion, the learned Magistrate cannot become a rubber stamp Presiding Officer to the complaint, to refer the matter for investigation, without application of mind to the relevant statutory provisions," the judge added.

In September, the Bengaluru Police had registered a case against Finance Minister Sitharaman and Cabinet Minister J.P. Nadda, among others, on a complaint filed by activist Adarsh R. Iyer, alleging that BJP leaders in connivance with some officials of the Directorate of Enforcement, extorted private firms and made illegal gains under the electoral bonds scheme.

The case was registered following an order from the 42nd additional chief metropolitan magistrate court. The complainant alleged that corporate entities were coerced into purchasing electoral bonds, which were then encashed by BJP leaders for political purposes. Over INR 80 billion was illegally collected through electoral bonds, the complaint stated. Challenging the criminal proceedings, Kateel had moved the high court.

In February, the Supreme Court had declared the electoral bond scheme unconstitutional and also directed State Bank of India to make public the details of individuals and companies that bought electoral bonds and the political parties that encashed these bonds. The scheme provided blanket anonymity to political donors. A five-judge Bench headed by then Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud had held that the scheme violated the voters' right to information about political funding under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.  End

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Ashish Shirke

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.