In a setback to Housing and Minorities Welfare Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, the High Court of Karnataka on Saturday refused to quash a corruption case registered by the Lokayukta police against him for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets worth ₹87.44 crore, which is 2,031% excess of his income from all known sources.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while dismissing the petition filed by Mr. Khan, who had questioned the registration of the case against him by the erstwhile Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on May 5, 2022, and later transferred to the Lokayukta police following winding up of ACB.
Suspension for 30 days
However, the High Court suspended operation of Saturday’s order for 30 days as the matter is pending before the apex court, which had earlier stayed the High Court’s April 6 interim order of rejecting Mr. Khan’s plea for staying the investigation till his petition is adjudicated.
Mr. Khan’s plea against High Court’s interim order is still pending for final adjudication before the apex court. The High Court adjudicated his after his counsel gave consent for adjudication as the apex court’s order was limited only to the interim order of April 2023.
Rejecting the contention of Mr. Khan that registration of FIR about disproportionate assets was illegal, the High Court not only upheld the process adopted by the ACB/Lokayukta police in registering the case but also held that at least an investigation is essential as the quantum of disproportionate assets is 2,031% of his declared assets.
ED letter
The case was registered after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 28, 2022, wrote to the ACB under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act that Mr. Khan was suspected to be in possession of huge disproportionate assets.
The letter was based on the documents that ED had seized after raiding premises belonging to him and assessment of his income tax returns based on the criminal case registered against him in I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam as he had allegedly received ₹58.38 crore from IMA Group’s head Mohammed Mansoor Khan.
The High Court said that ACB had independently conducted a preliminary inquiry based information given by the ED and secured a source report before registering the case, and all these actions are backed by the law.
Though the High Court rejected the Minister’s petition, the Lokayukta police cannot continue the investigation till it gets clearance from the apex court.
