Today, On 3rd December, The Delhi High Court scheduled a hearing in January 2025 on a plea filed by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar. The plea challenges the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) investigation against him concerning alleged money laundering charges. Shivakumar contends that the probe lacks legal merit and is politically motivated. The court’s decision could have significant implications for the ongoing case.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court scheduled for January 23 a plea by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar against a money laundering investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Amit Sharma noted that it was not feasible to begin the hearing on Tuesday due to other ongoing matters in court.
They stated,
“Counsel appearing for the parties say the matter will take some time… owing to part-heard matters already listed in court, it would not be possible to commence hearing. List on January 23.”
Shivakumar filed his petition in 2022, seeking to quash the investigation and the summons issued to him in the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) registered by the ED in 2020, which followed an alleged disproportionate assets case. His senior counsel mentioned that their arguments would require “half-a-day” given the significant issues at stake.
In his petition, Shivakumar challenged the money laundering probe on several grounds, arguing that the ED was re-investigating the same offense already examined in a separate case in 2018. He claimed that the current investigation represented a second set of proceedings against him, constituting an abuse of legal process and a malafide exercise of power.
On May 2, 2023, the High Court mandated that the ED would be “bound” by its assurance that no coercive measures would be taken against Shivakumar in this case. The ED opposed the petition, asserting that the two ECIRs were related to distinct cases, despite some overlapping facts.
They contended that the current ECIR involved different facts and a separate scheduled offense, with different amounts of alleged proceeds of crime.
Specifically, the ED noted that the first ECIR involved a criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the IPC with Rs 8.59 crore in proceeds, while the current case pertains to disproportionate assets totaling Rs 74.93 crore, linked to a CBI FIR filed in Bengaluru on October 3, 2020, under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The agency further argued that at the investigative stage, claims of double jeopardy are premature and that it is inappropriate to issue interim orders resembling final anticipatory bail in cases challenging the constitutional validity of provisions of special acts.