DK Shivakumar sent to judicial custody till Oct 1

A Delhi court on Tuesday sent Congress leader D K Shivakumar to judicial custody till October 1 in connection with a money laundering case.

Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar ordered that Shivakumar be first taken for the medical check-up and if discharged from the hospital, be sent to the Tihar jail.

The court will continue to hear the arguments on his bail plea tomorrow. The Congress leader was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 3 and was in its custody since then. He was produced before the court at the end of his custody today.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) K M Natraj, advocates Amit Mahajan and Nitesh Rana appeared on behalf of the agency, while advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Mukul Rohatgi represented Shivakumar.

During the course of proceedings, Natraj sought the extension of Shivakumar's custody, asserting that he needs to be confronted with certain "incriminating material".

"During the interrogation, he did not offer any explanation for the unaccounted cash. We have collected sufficient material from the bank. We have also recorded the statement of the auditor, Charted Accountant and he himself provided information about acquiring of properties through cash payments," said Natraj.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Shivakumar, opposed the custodial interrogation of Shivakumar and told the court that 317 accounts belonging to Shivakumar, which have been put in front of media, are to harm his reputation. "There are only 20 accounts in total with Rs 60 lakh deposited in them in the last ten years," he asserted.

Mukul Rohatgi sought his bail contending that his health condition is unstable. "If not bail, then medical bail should be provided," he added.

The 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 allegedly found unaccounted and misreported wealth linked to Shivakumar.

The department had that stated it came across money laundering and hawala operations, involving a network of persons across Delhi and Bengaluru.