The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Karnataka Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar, arrested in connection with a money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, while granting bail, remarked that Mr. Shivakumar had been extensively interrogated by the probe agency since his arrest.
The judge, however, instructed Mr. Shivakumar to cooperate with the investigation and not to leave the country without court's approval. It also directed him to pay a personal bail bond of Rs. 25 lakh with two sureties of the like amount.
The court, in its order, noted that Mr. Shivakumar's plea satisfied the ‘triple test’ for grant of bail. Firstly, there was no material on record to show that he was a flight risk. Secondly, there was no chance of tampering of evidence as all files are already under the custody of the agency. Thirdly, the court noted that there was no evidence of influencing the witnesses.
On October 17, the court reserved its order on Mr. Shivakumar’s bail plea. He had approached it challenging the trial court’s order denying him bail. He was arrested in September under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The case is based on a charge sheet filed by the Income-Tax Department last year, alleging tax evasion and ‘hawala’ transactions running into crores of rupees. However, Mr. Shivakumar has maintained that there was no evidence against him except under the provisions under the I-T Act that are compoundable.
On September 25, a special court in Delhi dismissed the bail application of Mr. Shivakumar.
Published - October 23, 2019 02:57 pm IST
