D K Shivakumar sent to ED custody till Sept 13

A Delhi court on Tuesday sent arrested Congress leader D K Shivakumar to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till September 13 in connection with an alleged money laundering case.

The court also said it will take up his bail application on that day.

One of the counsels representing Shivakumar, asked Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar if his client could address the people of Karnataka, to which he replied in the negative. "Absolutely not!" he said.

Earlier, the ED had sought Shivakumar's custody asserting that he gave evasive replies and remained non-cooperative during the investigation.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) K M Natraj told the court that there is a reason to believe that Shivakumar is guilty of laundering money and his custodial interrogation is required to confront him with documents.

The counsel further contended that the assets of his whole family have grown phenomenally over the past few years.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Shivakumar, strongly opposed the remand application of the agency and said that a bail application has been moved on his behalf.

The agency, however, sought time to reply on his bail application.

Singhvi also put forth three prayers before the court. He pleaded that Shivakumar be enlarged on bail on whatever condition the court desires to.

Secondly, he requested the court to deny police remand and grant him permission to meet the lawyers and family members.

The counsel asked the agency to show what they could not question him during the four-day custodial interrogation.

"He has spent a long time in the hospital suffering from low blood pressure, thyroid and high sugar. He must be supplied with proper medication," Singhvi told the court.

Besides, K M Natraj advocates Nitesh Rana, Amit Mahajan and AR Aditya appeared for the ED.

Singhvi and Dayan Krishnan represented the Congress leader in the court today.

Shivakumar was arrested by the agency late evening on Tuesday. A money laundering case was registered by the agency against him in September last year, based on a complaint filed by the Income Tax Department.

The I-T department, during the initial probe, had found unaccounted and misreported wealth linked to Shivkumar.

It also came across money laundering and hawala operations, involving a network of persons across Delhi and Bengaluru. They had allegedly set up a base in order to transport and utilise the unaccounted cash.