BackHC grants bail to DK Shivakumar in ED case
Shivakumar’s bail comes hours after Cong chief Sonia Gandhi met him in Tihar jail, showing support for the Vokkaliga leaderJustice Suresh Kumar Kait granted conditional bail to Shivakumar on a personal bond of ₹25 lakh with two sureties
PremiumDelhi/Bengaluru: The Delhi high court on Wednesday granted bail to senior Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar in the money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), 50 days after he was arrested.
Justice Suresh Kumar Kait granted conditional bail to Shivakumar on a personal bond of ₹25 lakh with two sureties. The court said he cannot travel abroad without its permission and ordered the Congress leader to make himself available to investigating agencies as and when required.
The ED opposed Shivakumar’s bail plea, arguing that he would misuse his position to tamper with evidence. However, the court allayed the fears, saying that all the documents related to the case were in the possession of the probe agency.
A special court had earlier extended till 25 October the judicial custody of the Karnataka leader, who was arrested by the ED on 3 September under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after four days of interrogation. Shivakumar is at present lodged in Tihar jail.
On 26 September, Shivakumar had moved the high court for bail after the special court dismissed his bail application.
Shivakumar’s bail comes hours after Congress president Sonia Gandhi met him in jail, dismissing theories that the party had distanced itself from the Vokkaliga strongman.
The Congress leader was arrested over charges of money laundering, but the case took a political turn with the party accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre of misusing investigation agencies to target and silence the opposition.
“Welcome the decision of the High Court. The way BJP has used IT/ED to target Congress leaders needs to be exposed. I’m sure @DKShivakumar will get justice and come out clean. We have to fight together to save democracy..to save India," Dinesh Gundu Rao, the Karnataka president of the Congress posted on Twitter.
Multiple agencies have been probing Shivakumar’s assets for almost two years, with the opposition termed it as “witch hunt". In August 2017, the income tax (I-T) department had raided several premises owned by the Congress leader, his family, and associates, and claimed to have seized more than ₹8.59 crore in unaccounted for income. A total of 14 witnesses have already been examined by the ED.
Shivakumar is not completely out of the woods, with other agencies looking to close in on the 57-year-old Congress leader. However, the interim relief could help him consolidate the Vokkaliga support base firmly behind him, if not behind the party, ahead of the crucial bypolls in 15 constituencies on 5 December. The Congress leader’s presence is likely to help influence the outcome in seven of the 15 bypoll seats, which have a large Vokkaliga voter base.
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