Breaking: DK Shivakumar sent to 14 days judicial custody in PMLA case

The Special CBI Court at Rouse Avenue Court Complex today sent Congress leader DK Shivakumar to 14-days judicial custody in relation to a money laundering case. Shivakumar ED custody expired today..While passing the order, Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar directed that Shivakumar be taken to the hospital for a medical examination first in order to ascertain whether he needs to be admitted on account of ill health..The order reads,.“..it is directed that the accused be first taken to the hospital and only after his medical condition is opined to be stable, he be sent to judicial custody in Central Jail, Tihar. In case he is admitted in the hospital, his custody shall be taken over by the Supdt. Central Jail, Tihar who shall provide guards for the accused. In case of his admission in the hospital, the doctors shall hand over his custody to the Supdt., Central Jail, Tihar only on his discharge. .Accordingly, the accused is remanded to JC till 01.10.2019.”.Shivakumar has now been sent to judicial custody and the bail arguments will continue tomorrow..Appearing for the ED today, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj today moved two applications, one for sending Shivakumar to judicial custody and second for permission for his custodial interrogation..Natraj submitted that the ED could not effectively interrogate Shivakumar due to his ill health. However, since the maximum period for police remand was over, he prayed for is judicial remand in order to facilitate further interrogation..Natraj stated that Shivakumar has to be confronted with more documents are statements of other persons summoned by the Agency..Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Shivakumar and opposed the application for judicial custody..Pressing for his bail, Singhvi argued that no useful purpose would be served by keeping Shivakumar in judicial custody..“What is it that we can get from this accused?..Can you get something from his custody which cannot be gained from interrogation without custody?”, he questioned..He accused the ED of malafide and biased prosecution and argued that the Agency was levelling allegations without any basis..Rohatgi took the argument further and urged the Court to take a “holistic view” of the matter. He submitted that Shivakumar was a public figure and a seven-time MLA. He thus argued that Shivakumar had deep roots in the society with no criminal antecedents..He also argued that the predicate offence under the Income Tax Act was a compoundable offence and was not even a scheduled offence under the PMLA..The Court was further informed that out of the four cases arising from the searches carried out by Income Tax authorities a year ago, Shivakumar had already been discharged in three..Natraj opposed the bail plea and reiterated that after investigation, the Agency was of the opinion that DK Shivakumar had an unaccounted amount of Rs 143 crore which he had failed to explained. It was also alleged that Shivakumar, his associates, and family members have maintained 317 bank accounts for the purpose of money laundering..The arguments on bail were then adjourned for the day..Last week, the Special CBI Court had extended the ED’s custody of Congress leader DK Shivakumar till September 17..On September 4, the Court had sent Shivakumar to ED custody till September 13 in connection with a money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)..Shivakumar was arrested by the ED on September 3 after undergoing four days of interrogation in relation to the case. The ED had cited Shivakumar’s non-cooperation during the questioning as the reason for his arrest..A money laundering case was registered against DK Shivakumar pursuant to an ECIR registered on the basis of information from a complaint filed by the Income Tax authorities for offences punishable under Section 276C(1), 277 and 278 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 read with Section 193, 199 and 120Bof the Indian Penal Code, 1860..The ED has contended that DK Shivakumar generated a huge amount of cash illegally during his tenure as a public servant. However, during the interrogation, he remained evasive and did not explain the illegal generation of money, ED argued. It was stated that Shivakumar made a conscious effort to misguide the investigation and that he has not explained the seizure of cash by Income Tax Department authorities..On August 29, the Karnataka High Court dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Shivakumar and others seeking quashing of summons issued by the ED in relation to the case..Read the Order: