Supreme Court clears Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar in 2018 money laundering case; check details
The ED investigation in September 2018, stemmed from a chargesheet filed by the Income Tax department against an associate of DK Shivakumar and a Karnataka Bhavan staffer in Delhi, among others.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday (March 5) provided a massive relief to Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar by quashing a money laundering case filed against him in 2018. The apex court's decision annulled the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) charges under Section 120B and overruled the Karnataka High Court's previous order related to the case.
The verdict was delivered by a bench led by Justice Suryakant, which carefully considered the appeal petition challenging the case against DK Shivakumar. The ED had previously arrested Shivakumar on September 3, 2019, in connection with another money laundering case.
Subsequently, he was granted bail by the Delhi High Court in October the same year. The ED filed a charge sheet against him and others in May, based on the Income Tax department's chargesheet.
The ED investigation in September 2018, stemmed from a chargesheet filed by the Income Tax department against an associate of DK Shivakumar and a Karnataka Bhavan staffer in Delhi, among others.
The Income Tax department had reportedly uncovered cross-border hawala transactions and identified a network of individuals and premises in Delhi and Bengaluru involved in transporting and utilizing unaccounted cash.
The case alleged that DK Shivakumar and his daughter traveled to Singapore in July 2017 for financial investments. The Income Tax department allegedly claimed to have discovered unaccounted wealth amounting to Rs 429 crore associated with the Congress leader. Notably, DK Shivakumar had faced Income Tax raids in 2017, during which investigative agencies seized Rs 8.5 crore from four premises in Delhi directly linked to him.