New Delhi, Mar 6 (Agency) The Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed a 2018 money-laundering case against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).The division bench of the apex court passed the order against the Karnataka High Court judgement in August 2019. The matter pertains to a money laundering case that was registered against Shivakumar and his associates after approximately Rs 7 crore of cash was seized during Income Tax raids in 2017 from the Congress leader’s premises in Delhi. After days of interrogation, Shivakumar was arrested by ED in September 2019. However, the Delhi High Court granted bail to Shivakumar in October 2019, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
However, prior to his arrest, Shivakumar and others had filed a petition before the Karnataka High Court challenging ED summons issued to them. In August 2019, Justice Aravind Kumar, who has since been elevated to the apex court, dismissed these writ petitions. Shivakumar then moved the apex court against the same. The Supreme Court today set aside the High Court order and quashed the proceedings.Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra appeared for Shivakumar and Senior Counsel Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi and S Nagamuthu appeared for the others accused. Advocates Parmatma Singh, Mayank Jain and Madhur Jain briefed the senior advocates in the matter. On a related note, the Karnataka High Court is yet to consider a petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to revive its probe against Shivakumar for allegations of corruption against the now Deputy Chief Minister of the State. A similar plea by a BJP MLA is also pending before the High Court.