Karnataka Deputy CM Challenges Money Laundering Investigation in Delhi High Court

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar filed a plea in the Delhi High Court seeking to quash a money laundering investigation against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Scheduled for a March 10 hearing, Shivakumar argues that the ongoing probe is essentially a reinvestigation of an earlier case from 2018.

Represented by lawyers Mayank Jain, Parmatma Singh, and Madhur Jain, Shivakumar asserts that this constitutes a second set of proceedings and is an abuse of legal process. Previously, the court noted that the ED agreed to no coercive action against him, though the agency insists the current probe stems from unique facts of a separate FIR filed by the CBI.

The ED's counter-affidavit maintains that the cases are different, with discrepancies in the facts and the quantum of proceeds involved. The current investigation addresses alleged disproportionate assets worth Rs 74.93 crore, diverging from the first ECIR linked to scheduled offences under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.