In relief to former Karnataka Minister and Congress strongman DK Shivakumar, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate challenging his bail granted by the Delhi High Court.
According to reports, the top court had noted that the ED had 'copy-pasted' from their petition against P Chidambaram, the ex-Home Minister, who is currently in Tihar jail. The petition had apparently referred DK Shivakumar as a former Union Home Minister, instead of calling him an MLA.
A purported premier investigating agency of India, @dir_ed copy pasted its earlier reply filed in @PChidambaram_IN, into a diff case of @DKShivakumar, whr it was seeking bail cancellation.. this copy-paste job infuriated J. Nariman who said “this is no way to treat citizens” pic.twitter.com/ftGkZurMrO
— Meenakshi.B (@minakshibhanja1) November 15, 2019
Coming down heavily on the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the central probe agency, the apex court remarked, “This is not the way people of the country should be treated,” and asked him to read their dissenting judgment in Sabarimala issue.
“Mr Mehta, you should read the dissent in Sabarimala review. It is for people like you to educate and instruct the officials that our judgments are not to be played with,” Bar and Bench quoted Justice RF Nariman as saying.
Justice Nariman tells SG Tushar Mehta for ED:
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) November 15, 2019
This is not the way people of the country should eb treated. Mr. Mehta, you should read the dissent in Sabarimala review... It is for people like you to educate and instruct the officials that our judgments are not to be played with.
The bench also issued notices to the ED based on a petition filed by DK Shivakumar which sought quashing of charges filed by the Income Tax Department. It was based on the I-T Department's chargesheet that that the ED has registered a case.
DK Shivakumar, who had spent 50 days in jail, was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on October 23 after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. His previous applications for bail were rejected by the trial court.
While his police custody ended on September 19, he was remanded to judicial custody till October 1 by the Rouse Avenue court. He was reportedly lodged in the same jail compound as former Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
The ED had been probing accusations of money laundering registered against DK Shivakumar since August 2017, when a cash amount of Rs 8.86 crore was found at his New Delhi residence.
Allegations against DKS include that he, along with his associates, transferred unaccounted money through hawala transactions to the Congress top brass.