Money laundering case: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (March 5) quashed proceedings initiated against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar in connection with the 2018 money laundering case.
The Congress leader filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Karnataka High Court's decision to reject his plea to quash the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons issued to him in a case related to alleged money laundering.
A bench of justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan granted the relief to Shivakumar.
What is the case?
The case dates back to August 2017 when the Income Tax department conducted searches at multiple premises in Delhi as part of an alleged tax evasion probe involving Shivakumar, his business associate Sachin Narayan (45), liquor trader, Sunil Kumar Sharma (46), who operated luxury buses, Karnataka Bhawan employee A Hanumanthaiah (49), and former state government employee Rajendra N (76), who was a caretaker at Karnataka Bhawan.
During the searches, the department seized over Rs 8.59 crore, of which more than Rs 41 lakh was adjusted as tax liability for Shivakumar and over Rs 7.58 lakh for Sharma, who claimed the money as agriculture and business income, respectively.
Following this, the tax department filed a charge-sheet in a Bengaluru court against all the accused for tax evasion. The Enforcement Directorate then initiated a money laundering case in 2018 based on this complaint.
Shivakumar was arrested by the ED in the case on September 3, 2019, and was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on October 23, 2019.
