Special court grants regular bail to D K Shivakumar in money laundering case

A special court in Delhi on Tuesday granted regular bail to Congress leader D K Shivakumar and other four persons in connection with a money laundering case.

Special judge Vikas Dhull pronounced the order by converting the accused's interim bail into regular bail. The judge told all the accused to furnish Rs 1 lakh surety bond and told them not to travel to foreign countries. The judge also directed that the accused should not influence witnesses in the case.

Earlier, Shivakumar and other accused persons entrepreneur Sachin Narayan, Sharma Transport owner Sunil Kumar Sharma, Karnataka Bhavan Employee Anjaneya and Rajendra N approached the special court seeking a regular bail on health grounds in a money laundering case lodged against them by the Enforcement Directorate.

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On July 30 during hearing of a bail petition, Senior Council Dayakrishnan appearing for Shivakumar said his interim bail should be converted into regular bail as "he is suffering from health problems." "Moreover he is not in power and just an MLA, there is no fear of tampering with evidence," Dayakrishnan argued.

Since the ED already filed a charge sheet in the money laundering case, regular bail should be granted, the advocate argued.

However, advocate representing the ED had opposed granting regular bail saying the cases filed against the accused persons are serious in nature and they are influential persons. The advocate representing the ED said that a money laundering case was registered against Shivakumar after Rs 8.59 crore cash was seized from his Safdarjung Enclave apartment.

The Judge had reserved the order and said the order will be pronounced on August 2.

Based on the Income Tax probe, the ED registered a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against Shivakumar in 2018 and he was arrested by the agency on September 3, 2019, before being ordered to be released from the Tihar jail on bail on October 23, 2019, by the Delhi High Court.