ED seeks 14-days custody of D K Shivakumar

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday sought 14-days custody of arrested Congress leader D K Shivakumar from a Delhi court, asserting that he gave evasive replies and remained non-cooperative during the investigation into the alleged money laundering case.

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.

"We want his custody to unearth modus operandi, ascertain family property and income source," Natraj said.

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.

Singhvi also put forth three prayers before the court. He sought that Shivakumar should 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.

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.