DK Shivakumar Sent Back To Tihar Jail After Brief Hospitalisation At Delhi's RML

DK Shivakumar, senior Congress leader, has been sent back to Tihar Jail after brief hospitalisation at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia. He will be lodged at cell number 7 of Tihar Jail. This is the same cell where former Union Minister P Chidambaram was also housed. Shivakumar was arrested in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate. The Kanakapura lawmaker is in ED custody since his arrest on September 3.

During last hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KM Nataraj, appearing for the ED, told the court that Shivakumar's health condition didn't allow the agency to effectively interrogate him, thus, his judicial custody with permission to interrogate was needed. However, Shivakumar's lawyer contended that his health condition was very serious and he needs to be hospitalised as he came "very close" to a heart attack. Accusing the ED of being biased and lying before the court about the investigation in the case, Singhvi sought Shivakumar's immediate release on bail.

During the last hearing, the Enforcement Directorate had alleged that many of Shivakumar’s properties were ‘benami’ and claimed that he diverted more than Rs 200 crore of tainted money through 317 bank accounts. The agency had told the court that he was evasive and gave irrelevant answers during the interrogation. His lawyer, however, told the court that the probe agency was alleging about 317 bank accounts only to spoil Shivakumar's image in media and public. He told the court that during the raids, only Rs 41 lakh were recovered from him and not Rs 8.5 crore or 143 crore as claimed by the agency.

The ED had filed a PMLA case against Shivakumar and others based on a charge sheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the Income Tax Department against them last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions worth crores. The I-T department has accused Shivakumar and his associate S K Sharma of transporting huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through 'hawala' channels with the help of three other accused.