Relief for Nirmala Sitharaman in electoral bonds case as Karnataka HC pauses probe

In a temporary relief for Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, the Karnataka High Court on Monday (September 30) paused the investigation into an extortion case related to the controversial electoral bonds scheme. The court’s stay will remain in place until the next hearing on October 22.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna, who passed the interim order, highlighted the absence of essential elements required to establish extortion under Section 286 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including the need for a direct threat and a complaint from the aggrieved party.

The court noted that no such threat was made against the complainant, and the magistrate’s order initiating the investigation lacked clarity on this point.

The case stems from a complaint filed by activist Adarsh R. Iyer, who accused Sitharaman, BJP President J.P. Nadda, and several others, including officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), of extorting large sums of money from private companies via the electoral bonds scheme.

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Iyer alleged that companies like Vedanta, Sterlite, and Aurobindo Pharma were pressured into making donations through the scheme, which was struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year. According to Iyer, the BJP benefitted by over ₹8,000 crore through this arrangement.

BJP leader Nalin Kumar Kateel, also named in the complaint, filed a petition claiming that the charges were politically motivated and legally unsound. Kateel argued that the complaint lacked sufficient grounds for extortion and was an abuse of the judicial process.

The court’s stay on the investigation comes as it awaits further objections, and the case will be reviewed in more detail during the next hearing on October 22.