Delhi court extends DK Shivakumar's judicial custody till 15 Oct, allows ED to interrogate Congress leader in jail

New Delhi: A Delhi court Tuesday extended till 15 October the judicial custody of Congress leader DK Shivakumar , arrested in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate , and allowed the probe agency to quiz him in jail. [caption id=“attachment_3932175” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar. Twitter/@dks7[/caption] Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar sent Shivakumar to further 14-day judicial custody after the ED sought an extension of his judicial custody. The court also granted permission to the ED to quiz him in Tihar jail, where he is lodged. On 4 and 5 October after ED’s Special Public Prosecutors Amit Mahajan, NK Matta and Nitesh Rana said that Shivakumar could not be quizzed properly since he had to be admitted to the hospital due to various ailments. Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, appearing for Shivakumar, said the accused had no opposition to the applications. “Even if on bail, I (accused) am willing to cooperate at any extent.” The court had on 25 September declined to grant Shivakumar bail noting that he was an influential person and if released, may influence the witnesses or tamper with documents. The ED had in September last year registered the money laundering case against Shivakumar, Haumanthaiah, an employee at the Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, and others. The case was based on a charge sheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the Income Tax Department against them last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and ‘hawala’ transactions worth crores. The IT department has accused Shivakumar and his alleged associate SK Sharma of transporting a huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through ‘hawala’ channels with the help of three other accused.