Congress leader DK Shivakumar moves Delhi High Court seeking bail in money laundering case

New Delhi: Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar moved the Delhi High Court on Thursday seeking bail in a money laundering case after his bail petition was rejected by a special court in the national capital. 

Shivakumar is currently lodged in Tihar Jail under judicial custody of the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the money laundering case. He is in ED custody since his arrest on September 3. 

Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar rejected Shivakumar's bail plea on Wednesday. 

Opposing his plea on behalf of the ED, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj argued that Shivakumar had been accused of a serious economic offence, adding that such acts were detrimental for the country's economy as well as national security.

He told the court that Shivakumar had been evasive during questioning and was not cooperating with the investigating agency. According to Nataraj, Shivakumar refused to divulge details when asked about irrigation land in question. He also added that the Congress leader had been giving an irrelevant answer to the questions posed by the agency.

The prosecution argued that evidence might be tampered if the former Karnataka minister is granted bail.

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In Shivakumar's defence, veteran lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi questioned the actions of the ED, claiming that while the agency was referring to recovery of large amount of cash, there were no documents supportive of the claim.

Singhvi told the court that when all the documents were already in the possession of the ED, there was no question of Shivakumar tampering the evidence. 

The court had on Tuesday sent Shivakumar to judicial custody till October 1.

The money laundering case against Shivakumar was registered by the ED in September last year on the basis of a complaint filed by the Income Tax department.

The I-T department, during the initial probe, had allegedly found unaccounted and misreported wealth linked to Shivakumar.

The department had that stated it came across money laundering and hawala operations involving a network of persons across Delhi and Bengaluru.