SC dismisses CBI’s plea against stay on probe against Karnataka Dy CM Shivakumar in graft case
NEW DELHI:
A Special CBI Court of Delhi on Tuesday granted bail to four accused in a money laundering case connected with Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivkumar registered by Enforcement Directorate.
The Special Judge Vikas Dhull while granting bail to four accused said, “the bail applications are allowed and the accused are admitted to regular bail subject to their furnishing personal bond in the sum of Rs.1,00,000/-each with one surety each of the like amount subject to the condition that accused shall not leave this country without prior permission of this court and shall not try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witness.”
Earlier, the Special Judge had issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the bail petition moved by four co-accused namely Sachin Narayan, Sunil Kumar Sharma, Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah and Rajendra N.
Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa’s counsel appeared for one accused and argued that the accused were not arrested during the investigation, but the prosecution complaint has been filed. “Now they cannot be taken into custody. Law is very clear at this point.”
He further argued there is no classification like economic offences under special statutes. “The Supreme Court has said prosecution cannot classify economic offences and start opposing bail. In this case, twin conditions of section 45 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) do not apply as the accused were not arrested by the agency consciously,” Senior advocate Pahwa argued. Senior advocate Mohit Mathur appeared for another accused who also argued that they have concluded their investigation and a charge sheet had been filed. “The accused were not arrested during the investigation. Now they should be granted bail.”
He also submitted that the main man in the case was granted bail by the High Court. Proceedings Predicate offence has been stayed by the Supreme court. Therefore, there cannot be any proceedings in this case till the stay is vacated by the supreme court. Senior advocate Sidharth Agarwal for another accused submitted that his client has no role in this crime. He was not arrested by the ED as they did not have grounds for arrest. “My client has been prosecuted here for income tax violation. My alleged role is that I facilitated the main accused. We are protected by an order for no coercive action.”
On the other hand, Nitesh Rana, Special public prosecutor for ED, argued, “the twin condition of Section 45 applied in every case except the cases of anticipatory bail and where the half of sentence has been served. There is no other third category.” Rana said, “They were not arrested during the investigation as they came forward and gave statements. There was a no coercive action order by the Court.”
“Now it is to the court to decide whether they should be granted bail or not as the charge sheet has been filed and twin conditions of section 45 apply to them,” Rana argued. Court had recently issued summoned after taking cognisance of a money laundering prosecution complaint filed against them by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The accused were also represented by Advocate Mayank Jain in the Court.
ED had arrested Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar on September 3, 2019, in the case and later Delhi High Court granted him bail in October 2019. The Enforcement Directorate in May filed a charge sheet against Congress leader DK Shivakumar and others in a money laundering case. DK Shivakumar is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.
The money laundering case was registered by the Enforcement Directorate, based on a complaint filed by the Income Tax (IT) department. The I-T department, during the initial probe, had allegedly found unaccounted and misreported wealth linked to the congress leader. DK Shivakumar earlier had called the charges “baseless” and “politically motivated”.
Earlier, the ED has also summoned DK Shivakumar’s wife and mother to appear before it, which was later challenged in the Delhi High Court. According to the source, the ED has not mentioned Shivakumar’s wife and mother’s names in the chargesheet. (ANI)
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