Bengaluru, Sept 19: Senior Congress leader and former Karnataka minister DK Shivakumar was sent to Tihar Jail on Thursday hours before a Delhi court adjourned hearing on his bail plea to Saturday.
Shivakumar was moved to jail soon after he was discharged from Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi where he was undergoing treatment for chest pain and high blood pressure.
He is, perhaps, the first leading politician from Karnataka to be lodged in Tihar Jail on criminal charges in the recent past.
Shivakumar, who has been lodged in jail No. 7 of Tihar, will be in the company of former finance minister P Chidambaram, who has been lodged there since September 5 in cell No. 15. Sources said it is highly unlikely that Chidambaram will meet or interact with Shivakumar in jail.
Special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar on Thursday directed Tihar jail authorities to take proper care of Shivakumar’s health. He will be served dal, roti, vegetables and rice for lunch and dinner. For breakfast, he will be given porridge, biscuits and tea.
Additional solicitor general KM Nataraj, who appeared for the ED, argued against granting bail to the accused saying the probe could be hampered and witnesses influenced.
ED questions Hebbalkar for 1 hour
The declaration of property made by him (Shivakumar) is irrelevant. The question is how he acquired it ... He says he is an agriculturist; Rs 1.38 crore from agricultural income is projected by him in the past 20 years. Entire property is Rs 800 crore. Saying that Rs 1.38 crore was invested and became (Rs) 800 (crore) is unbelievable,” the Enforcement Directorate said.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, appearing for Shivakumar, opposed the submission saying he never claimed the mere income from property became Rs 800 crore. The judge obliged Shivakumar’s counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s request for more time to complete his argument and adjourned the case to Saturday.
The ED had arrested DK Shivakumar in a money-laundering case on September 13. The Congress leader was admitted to hospital for check-up on the court’s directive.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar’s close associate and Congress MLA from Belagavi Rural, Laxmi Hebbalkar, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in Delhi on Thursday. Sources said ED officials grilled her for about an hour and recorded her statement. Hebbalkar on Wednesday alleged that the ED summons was a result of “vendetta politics”.
The agency had summoned her on September 14, but she had sought exemption as she was engaged in flood relief operations in her constituency. She had also asked ED officials to question her in Bengaluru, but did not get any response.
Shivakumar’s daughter Aisshwarya appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on September 12 and was questioned for nine hours.
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