ED case quashed: D K Shivakumar thanks SC for giving relief in money laundering investigation

PTI, Mar 5, 2024, 6:26 PM IST

Source: PTI / File

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday thanked the Supreme Court for dismissing a money laundering investigation against him, which was initiated in 2018.

He said the central agencies are planning to file an appeal against the order, but he is equally prepared for it.

”I prostrate before the judges in the Supreme Court from here. I have been saying that I did nothing but yet I faced numerous problems,” Shivakumar, who is Congress Karnataka unit president said.

The deputy chief minister said he would soon let people know how the CBI targeted him.

”I got information about the relief from the Supreme Court. I learnt that the cases framed against me were found wrong. Today is a day of joy after many difficulties in life,” he said.

When asked whether he felt that the journey is now easy, Shivakumar said he never felt the journey was difficult.

”I went to jail confidently. The more they trouble me, I will only rise politically,” he said.

He thanked all his party leaders, friends and well-wishers across the country, who supported him during this crisis.

”I remember the way they arrested me and the way they seized all the documents. The income tax people and CRPF came to my house. I had not done anything wrong,” Shivakumar claimed.

He said, ”There are attempts to file an appeal. Let them do it. They are ready for all kinds of fight and so do I.” A Supreme Court bench of Justices Surya Kant and K V Viwanathan today dismissed a money laundering probe against Shivakumar.

The Congress leader had moved the top court against the Karnataka High Court order that refused to quash the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons issued to him in an alleged case of money laundering.

The case dates back to August 2017 when the Income Tax department had carried out searches at multiple premises in Delhi as part of its alleged tax evasion probe against Shivakumar, his alleged business associate and liquor trader Sachin Narayan, another associate Sunil Kumar Sharma who operated a fleet of luxury buses, Karnataka Bhawan (Delhi) employee A Hanumanthaiah and former state government employee and caretaker posted at the Karnataka Bhawan Rajendra N.

The department during the searches had seized more than Rs 8.59 crore, out of which more than Rs 41 lakh has now been adjusted as tax liability of Shivakumar and more than Rs 7.58 lakh as that of Sharma after they claimed the money as their agriculture income and business income, respectively.

The tax department later filed a charge-sheet before a Bengaluru court on charges of tax evasion against all the accused and the Enforcement Directorate took cognisance of this complaint to file a money laundering case in 2018.