The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the Director-General and Inspector-General of Police to appoint a senior police officer to examine whether proper investigation was conducted in two criminal cases against Rajarajeshwarinagar MLA Munirathna in connection with the alleged election malpractices during elections held to the State Assembly in May 2018.
The senior police officer will look into the chargesheet already filed by the jurisdictional Jalahalli police, call up the petitioners to air their grievances in writing, examine all aspects of investigations conducted, and make assessment on whether further probe is required, the court said.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty passed the interim on a PIL petition, filed in February this year, seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The Bench also directed the DG&IGP to submit the report of the senior police officer to the court by December 15. The petitioners, Anand Kumar N. and Santosh Kumar G., both sympathisers of BJP and residents of Bengaluru city, had alleged that the investigation was nothing but an “eyewash” as the police have failed to collect several documents and record statement of several witnesses. The final report filed by the police would only help Mr. Munirathna and conducting a trial based on the chargesheet would serve no purpose, the petitioners have claimed.