Water Resources and Medical Education Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday appeared before the Special Court for Economic Offences in connection with the seizure of Rs 8.59 crore cash from flats in New Delhi during the Income Tax (I-T) raids in 2017. The court granted conditional interim bail to Shivakumar and others.

The department had filed a complaint against Shivakumar, his business associate Sachin Narayan, Sunil Kumar Sharma, proprietor of Sharma Transports, Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah, assistant liaison officer at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi and N Rajendra, retired caretaker at Karnataka Bhavan, in a case of tax evasion and filing false returns.

The advocates representing the accused moved the bail applications and also placed the order of stay on further proceedings granted by the High Court against Narayan. The court had stayed the sanction granted by the principal director (investigation) of the department to prosecute Shivakumar and others.

The counsel representing the I-T department sought time to file objections. The special court judge granted interim bail and adjourned the hearing to September 20.

This was the fourth plaint against Shivakumar in connection with raids in 2017. The department said Shivakumar, Narayan and Sharma bought flats in New Delhi to store unaccounted cash belonging to Shivakumar. They failed to explain source of cash seized.