DK Shivakumar gets bail in money laundering case; Delhi HC bars him from leaving country without prior permission

Delhi High Court, on Wednesday, granted bail to Congress leader DK Shivakumar in a money laundering case against a personal bond of Rs 25,000. He is currently lodged in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail under judicial custody after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last month and a trial court rejected his bail plea. A single-judge Supreme Court bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait heard Shivakumar’s appeal against the trial court order and had reserved its judgement on 17 October. In its order, the apex court has asked Shivakumar to cooperate with the investigation and refrain from influencing any of the witnesses. Shivakumar is also restricted from going abroad, without seeking due permission from the court. Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi met Shivakumar at the Tihar Jail in Delhi, hours before the hearing. Gandhi was accompanied by Congress general secretary Ambika Soni and Congress MP DK Suresh, who is also the brother of Shivakumar. Talking to reporters, Suresh said the Congress president assured Shivakumar that the party is with him and will stand in his support. Gandhi told Shivakumar that this is a case of “political vendetta” and other Congress leaders are also being targeted by the Centre, Suresh told the reporters.

“We have to fight them (BJP) and come out of this,” Suresh said, quoting the Congress president. On Monday, former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy had met Shivakumar at the Tihar Jail. Shivakumar was arrested on 3 September by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and has been in judicial custody in the Tihar jail. The Congress leader had moved to the high court after a trial court rejected his bail application, stating that the ED investigation is at an initial stage and the agency must get a free and fair chance to reach a logical conclusion. During the course of proceedings, the agency had produced a host of documents before the high court, including a list consisting of 317 bank accounts, allegedly linked to the accused. The money laundering case was registered against him by the ED in September last year, based on a Income Tax department complaint. The I-T Department, during the initial probe, had found unaccounted and misreported wealth allegedly linked to Shivakumar.