HC refuses to quash disproportionate assets case against Renukacharya
The Hindu
The High Court of Karnataka has refused to quash the criminal case of allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to known sources of income against BJP MLA for Honnalli M.P. Renukacharya.
The High Court of Karnataka has refused to quash the criminal case of allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to known sources of income against BJP MLA for Honnalli M.P. Renukacharya.
The court said the first information report (FIR) registered against Mr. Renukacharya by the Lokayukta police in 2015 was legally permissible and it does not amount to the registration of a second FIR on the same allegations.
Justice K. Natarajan passed the order while dismissing the petition filed by Mr. Renukacharya questioning the legality of the registration of the FIR.
The FIR registered earlier was quashed by the High Court as the complainant had directly lodged a private complaint against Mr. Renukacharya before the jurisdictional court in Davangere instead of first lodging a complaint with the jurisdictional Lokayukta police as per the guidelines laid down by the apex court for registering complaints on commission of criminal offences, the court pointed out.
The court also noted that the High Court in 2015 had given liberty to the complainant to lodge the complaint afresh by following the guidelines issued by the apex court while quashing the earlier FIR, which was registered by the Lokayukta police as per the direction given by the jurisdictional court based on the private complaint.
Meanwhile, the Lokayukta police have told the court that the investigation into the complaint was complete and they were awaiting sanction from the competent authority to submit the chargesheet against the MLA.
One G.K. Mattad from Honnali had lodged a complaint stating that Mr. Renukacharya had declared his assets as ₹24.07 lakh while filing nomination papers during the 2004 Assembly elections, and his assets grew to ₹73.97 lakh as per the declaration made during the 2008 elections. Pointing out that his declared assets during the 2013 elections was ₹4.95 crore, the complainant had alleged that Mr. Renukacharya had amassed huge assets by abusing his positions both as an MLA and a Minister.
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