The Judge ordered the ED to make sure that Shivakumar has all his prescribed medicines and be medically examined every 48 hours.A Delhi court has sent Karnataka Congress leader, DK Shivakumar to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till September 13 after it said that the allegations against him were serious in nature and his custodial interrogation was necessary to confront him with voluminous incriminating material and other crucial aspects of the case.
Shivakumar was arrested by the ED in connection with a money laundering case registered by the ED last year following an investigation carried out by the income tax department against him in 2017 where unaccounted cash to the tune of over 8 crore 59 lakh was found in New Delhi in locations, allegedly linked to the Congress leader.
The income tax department carried out searches in August 2017 in premises linked to Shivakumar even as the then Congress minister was sheltering 44 Congress MLAs from Gujarat at a resort outside Bengaluru ahead of a crucial poll in Gujarat for Rajya Sabha seats.
Special Judge, Ajay Kumar Kuhar in his order said, ” The court has to consider the facts and circumstances of the case, the requirement of the investigation to reach a logical conclusion and in case of conspiracy the need to unfold it. The allegations made against the accused are serious in nature. The investigation in my considered view would justify the custodial interrogation of the accused keeping in view the nature of offence. He has to be confronted with voluminous incriminating material and other crucial aspects of the case with regard to the source of money and his further interest in other properties and accounts.
Counsel for Shivakumar, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi told the court that his client was suffering from low BP and was in hospital the entire day. He also submitted that “Shivakumar was not given food the entire day and this was like slow torture.”
The Judge ordered the ED to make sure that Shivakumar has all his prescribed medicines and be medically examined every 48 hours. His counsels and family members were also allowed to meet him everyday for 30 minutes by the court.
Additional Solicitor General, KM Nataraj who appeared for the ED along with counsels NK Matta and Nitesh Rana told the court that as a public servant Shivakumar generated a huge amount of money illegally. He also told the court that the accused made an unexplained investment in a property and the source of generation of Rs 4 crore was not established. He further submitted that during the search of his residence various incriminating loose sheets giving cash payment of Rs 44 crores from the period of 2014 to 2016 was found which needed further investigation.
Nataraj sought 14 days custody of the accused by claiming that during his previous questioning, Shivakumar never disclosed the name of his auditors, denied the documents recovered from his house and did not give details of his financial transactions. “We need his custodial interrogation to ascertain his activities resulting in illegal gains. We also need to ascertain the role of other persons to ascertain entities, bank accounts and properties that he and his family members has beneficial interest,” Nataraj told the court.
Shivakumar was represented by Singhvi and senior advocate Dayan Krishanan.
When Singhvi addressed the court he told the judge that the investigating officer in the case had signed the remand application right under the judge’s nose without even reading it and claimed that the agency was not applying its mind.
The ASG rebutted that there was no impediment that the application can not be signed in court.
Singhvi then told the court that Shivakumar had cooperated with the probe agency as he spent four days and upto 34 hours answering their questions. “I was called, I came and I did not abscond. They have had me for 33 to 34 hours…today he was not given food and this is some kind of slow torture. He was interrogated by three people at the same time. He has already spent five days continuously on the trot”.
His counsel also told the court that the arrest made by the ED was illegal, was politically motivated and beyond it’s jurisdiction since there is no charge of commission of scheduled offence, and that there is no even a primary facie case against the applicant under the PML Act.
“The Karnataka High Court has stayed any proceedings on the complaint filed by the IT department. The offences under IT Act are not scheduled offences hence PMLA will not apply,” Singhvi told the court.
The ASG in his rebuttal said that the Karnataka HC had dismissed Shivakumar’s writ petition challenging the ED summons. He told the court, “The HC has held that the proceedings under PMLA are independent, separate and distinct from the proceedings initiated for the scheduled offences by other law enforcement agencies,” Nataraj submitted.
Singhvi told the court that the entire case of the prosecution is based on the raids conducted by the IT Department and the amount seized has already been shown by applicant on his Income Tax return and there was no need for custodial interrogation.
As the proceedings came to a close, Shivakumar’s counsels also requested the court that he be allowed to make an announcement to his supporters to not protest after a substantial number of protestors gatehred outside the court. The judge denied their request and asked the IO to look into the matter.
