BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has stayed all criminal proceedings pending against Ravi Belagere, the editor of ‘Hi Bangalore’ tabloid, in connection with a case registered against him for allegedly putting out a hit job on his colleague Sunil Heggaravalli over a personal issue.
Justice PS Dinesh Kumar, in an interim directive, stayed all further proceedings pending before the First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in the city. The interim order was passed on December 7 after hearing the petition filed by Belagere questioning the validity of the case probed and charge sheet filed by the Central Crime Branch (CCB).
One of the major ground taken by Belagere’s counsel was that CCB has no jurisdiction to investigate the case and file charge sheet as it has no powers to do so. As per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc), only the jurisdictional police can probe the case and file a charge sheet and not the CCB, the counsel argued.
Belagere was arrested on December 8 last year after he was named as accused in the FIR registered at Subramanyapura police station. After the case was registered by jurisdictional police, the CCB took over the probe and filed the charge sheet. The FIR mentions that Belagere had given a .32 revolver, two bullets and a knife to one Shashidhara, asking him to eliminate Sunil Heggaravalli, on August 28, 2017. The same day, the other two accused had gone near Sunil’s house, but could not accomplish the job. Belagere and two others have been booked for attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention and under two sections of the Arms Act.
Vidwat attack case: Court grants relief to Haris Jr.
Bengaluru: The Karnataka HC has stayed the criminal proceedings pending against Mohammed Nalpad Haris, son of Congress MLA NA Haris, in connection with a case registered against him for allegedly attacking 24-year-old Vidwat at a cafe in UB City on February 17. On hearing the criminal petition filed by Mohammed questioning the legality of the probe and the charge sheet filed by the Central Crime Branch, Justice P S Dinesh Kumar passed an interim order staying the proceedings pending against Mohammed before the trial court for eight weeks. One of the major contentions of Mohammed’s counsel is that the CCB has no jurisdiction to investigate the case, as it has no authority over the functioning of the police station.