Kalaburgi
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has served a second notice to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson and former Minister Priyank Kharge in connection with alleged malpractices in the examination for the recruitment of 545 police sub-inspectors (PSIs). This was hours after he had replied to the first notice, explaining why he did not appear before the CID.
Speaking to media representatives, the Congress MLA said that the notice was handed over to him by a CID officer at Bengaluru airport when he was on his way to Kalaburagi.
Why not others?
The Congress MLA asked why notices had not been served to Minister Prabhu Chauhan and BJP MLC Sankanur, who had also written to the Chief Minister and Home Minister, demanding an investigation into the alleged irregularities.
He asked the investigation agency to look beyond Kalaburagi so that more light could be shed on the case and more people, who were involved in the irregularities, could be arrested.
In his earlier reply to the CID, in response to the notice issued to him to appear and submit documents pertaining to the alleged scam, he said the investigating agency is required to discharge its functions and duty strictly in accordance with statutes and law. The notice was served to him after he held a press conference in which he had referred to the modus operandi of culprits and said that the investigation agency has to cast its net wide to unearth involvement of higher-ups.
“Perhaps, this is a manner in which the present dispensation wants to scuttle and stifle free speech and in the process destroy the democratic fabric to which all of us are aligned under Constitution,” the Chittapur legislator, who earlier refused to appear before the CID, said in his letter to Director-General of Police CID on Thursday.
Pointing to Section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code referred in the notice, he said that the provision allows the CID the power to summon a person to produce a document or a thing. “In the present instance, your notice being vague and baseless is glaringly in excess of the jurisdiction bestowed upon you by Section 91. You have issued notice not for the purpose of any free and fair investigation, but to placate your political bosses to whom I stand as political opponent,” he said, adding that such exercise of power is not only illegal but also gross abuse of process of law.
Not new
“To summon me or have my attendance as a witness, you must have information to believe that I am acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case. The present scam is not new in public domain and was first raised by Minister Prabhu Chauhan and later a BJP legislator, both of whom have written to the Chief Minister and Home Minister,” said Kharge.
Instead of investigating the crime in earnest, the police are using the notice as a tool to stifle his fundamental right and the right as a member of Opposition to raise issues of corruption, maladministration and criminal misconduct of the executive and political executive, he said.
Speaking at Kalaburagi, Kharge said, “Serving notices to those demanding an impartial investigation and justice to genuine candidates is an attempt to divert public attention from the real culprits.” He demanded a court-monitored investigation and the establishment of a fast-track court to hear the case.
Property to be seized
Meanwhile, taking exception to Kharge not appearing before the CID, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said Kharge should furnish documents, if any, related to the episode.
