The Karnataka High Court has dismissed former Minister R. Roshan Baig’s petition challenging the proceedings initiated against him by the special court on the allegation of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, based on a private complaint filed in 2012.
Justice John Michael Cunha passed the order while dismissing the petitions filed by Mr. Baig, his wife Sabiha Roshan, and son Ruman Baig. Meanwhile, the High Court clarified that there was no bar on the special court to take cognisance of offences against Mr. Baig as prior sanction was not required to prosecute him when the special court took cognisance of offence against only against his wife and son in May 2018.
On finding that the disproportionate assets held by Mr. Baig and his family members amounted to ₹56.71 lakh when compared to their income from all sources from the available documents, the special court had found a prima facie case to proceed against them by rejecting the “B” report filed by the investigating officer by wrongly forming an opinion that assets, only to the tune of around 10% in excess of the income from known sources, does not amount to disproportionate asset.
Special court was justified in proceeding against the accused persons by rejecting the “B” report filed by the investigation officer of the Lokayukta police, the High Court said while directing the special court to continue the proceedings as per the law by also taking cognisance of offences against Mr. Baig.
