On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to take up a petition demanding an independent investigation into the alleged honey trapping of lawmakers, government officials, and judges in Karnataka.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna responded to a request for early listing made by the petitioner’s counsel and consented to hear the matter either later in the day or by Tuesday.
The plea, filed by Binay Kumar Singh from Jharkhand, calls for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising officers not under the Karnataka government’s control.
Supervised Investigation Sought
Filed through advocate Barun Sinha, the petition also urges the Supreme Court to supervise the inquiry directly or through a committee headed by a retired apex court judge.
The plea noted, “The monitoring committee should also inquire into the role played by all authorities/persons who directly or indirectly benefitted from the incident. To direct prosecution of the person found guilty upon investigation.”
Karnataka Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna triggered the case last week when he alleged that authorities had honey-trapped 48 people in the state and circulated obscene videos.
The Congress leader said the list includes politicians from various parties and levels of government.
The petition stated, “There were very serious and troubling allegations made on the floor of the Karnataka state legislature that a person aspiring to be the chief minister of the state has been successful in honey trapping several persons, amongst whom are judges. The allegations have been made by a sitting minister who has claimed himself to be a victim, thereby lending credibility to the serious allegations.”
“Not only that, another minister of the government has not only echoed the allegations made by the first minister, rather alleged that the scale and proportion of the scandal are at least ten times what is currently visible,” it further added.
The plea also expressed concern over the alleged involvement of members of the judiciary, warning that such incidents could severely compromise judicial independence and erode public trust in the justice system.
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