HC stays probe against Sitharaman, others based on FIR linked to poll bonds

BENGALURU: In a relief for Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Karnataka high court on Monday ordered an interim stay on any further investigation based on an FIR registered in Bengaluru in an electoral bonds-linked extortion and criminal conspiracy case against her and others.
"Section 383 of IPC mandates that any informant who approaches court or jurisdictional police should have been put through fear...It is only then that extortion can be prima facie established. Criminal law can be set into motion by any person... Who is the complainant here becomes significant," Justice M Nagaprasanna said. "In this case, permitting further proceedings at least until objections have been filed will become an abuse of the process of law." The order came on a petition by Nalin Kumar Kateel, former Karnataka BJP president and Sitharaman's co-accused in the complaint filed by Adarsh R Iyer, a Bengaluru-based RTI activist.