The High Court has dismissed a private complaint against Abhay Patil, the BJP MLA for Belagavi South Constituency, regarding allegations of illegal wealth gain beyond his income on technical grounds.
Patil filed a third petition in the High Court seeking to quash the order issued by the 4th Additional District and Sessions Court (Lokayukta Special) for the third time in 2017, which recommended an investigation of the private complaint filed against him in connection with the disproportionate assets case and the FIR registered by the Belagavi Lokayukta Police. The High Court granted the petition and ordered the cancellation of the private complaint against Patil for the third time based on technical grounds.
It is worth noting that the petitioner was not an MLA when the case was recommended for investigation. Therefore, the Lokayukta police said that there was no need to take prior permission from the competent authority to file a complaint and FIR. However, he was an MLA when a private complaint was filed in 2012. However, another bench of the same High Court quashed the police FIR twice when the petitioner was an MLA and had filed a private complaint without obtaining prior permission from the competent authority. Even so, the bench of Justice R. Natarajan opined that the FIR was filed for the third time without prior permission.
In conclusion, the High Court has dismissed the private complaint against Abhay Kumar Patil, the BJP MLA for Belagavi South Constituency, regarding allegations of illegal wealth gain beyond his income. The case has been recommended for investigation three times, and the High Court has granted Patil’s petition to cancel the private complaint for the third time.
To provide some context, in 2012, a person filed a private complaint with the Belagavi Lokayukta Court alleging that Abhay Patil had illegally acquired assets beyond his income during his time as an MLA from 2004 to 2008. The court ordered a Lokayukta police investigation based on the complaint, and an FIR was registered in 2012.
Abhay Kumar Patil filed a petition in 2013 questioning the FIR, and the High Court quashed it and returned the case to the trial court. However, the special court once again ordered the Lokayukta police to investigate the same private complaint. The ACB police filed an FIR in 2017, but the High Court canceled the order of the special court and ordered it on August 8, 2017.