In relief to DKS, SC junks ’18 money laundering case
‘Today is a day of joy after many difficulties in life’
I prostrate before the judges in the Supreme Court. I have been saying that I did nothing but yet I faced numerous problems.
In a relief to Karnataka deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a 2018 money laundering probe against the Congress leader.
Mr Shivakumar had moved the apex court against the 2019 Karnataka high court order that refused to quash the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons issued to him in the case of alleged money laundering.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and K.V. Viswanathan set aside the high court order and allowed the appeals filed by Mr Shivakumar and Karnataka Bhavan (Delhi) employee A. Hanumanthaiah, who was also an accused in the money laundering case. Mr Hanumanthaiah was also granted relief in the money laundering case.
“Appeals are allowed, the proceedings initiated against the appellants under the PMLA are hereby
— D.K. Shivakumar, Karnataka deputy chief minister
quashed,” the bench said.
Mr Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress chief, 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 in Bengaluru.
“I went to jail confidently. The more they trouble me, I will only rise politically,” he said.
“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,” he added.
Mr Shivakumar booked along with Mr Haumanthaiah for alleged offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The apex court quashed the money laundering case in view of its November 2023 verdict that the charge of criminal conspiracy, which is punishable under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), cannot be the only offence for conducting a probe under PMLA.
Senior advocates Abhishek Singhvi and Sidharth Luthra, representing Mr Hanumanthaiah and Mr Shivakumar, argued that the ED probe against Mr Shivakumar and others was premised solely on the criminal conspiracy charge under Section 120 of the IPC and no scheduled offence under PMLA was involved in the matter.