HC to hear on Sep 26 Shivakumar's plea seeking copy of his statements recorded by ED
New Delhi, Sep 20: The Delhi High Court Friday said it would hear on September 26 the plea by Karnataka Congress leader D K Shivakumar seeking copy of his statements recorded by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.
Justice Brijesh Sethi fixed the matter for the next date after Shivakumar's lawyer said the senior advocate who has to argue the case was not available.
Shivakumar, arrested by the ED on September 3, sought the court's direction to call for the transcript of his statements recorded by an Assistant Director of the ED under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
He also sought from the court to hold that the probe agency has no jurisdiction to invoke provisions of PMLA against him.
Shivakumar, MLA from Kanakapura assembly seat, is in judicial custody till October 1 and his bail plea is pending before a trial court here.
In his plea before the high court, he claimed that the statement under Section 50 of the PMLA could only be recorded by the Director of the ED and the statement recorded by any other officer in Shivakumar's case be removed from the records.
He said that in no manner he can be linked to money laundering as contemplated under the PMLA and alleged that the ED officers "for extraneous reasons, are trying to impute criminality into the same, so as to harass him".
The proceedings initiated against Shivakumar are "laced with bias" at the behest of the ED officials, the plea alleged, adding that the investigation was conducted with "political bias".
The trial court had earlier allowed ED to interrogate the politician in custody, saying the allegations made against him were serious in nature.
The ED has also questioned Shivakumar's daughter Aisshwarya, a management graduate, and her statement was recorded under PMLA.
According to sources, she was also confronted with documents and statements made by Shivakumar with regard to a trip to Singapore he made with her in 2017. Aisshwarya is a trustee in an education trust floated by her father.
The ED had alleged that the trust, holding assets and businesses worth crores of rupees, operates a number of engineering and other colleges and Aisshwarya is the main person behind them.
The ED had in September last year registered the money laundering case against Shivakumar, Haumanthaiah, an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, and others.
Shivakumar had to appear before the ED after Karnataka High Court dismissed his petition challenging the summons issued to him by the agency.
The ED had filed the PMLA case against him and others based on a charge sheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the Income Tax Department against them last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions worth crores.
The I-T department has accused Shivakumar and his alleged associate S K Sharma of transporting huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through 'hawala' channels with the help of three other accused.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
UP: Fake IAS officer marries woman, flees with Rs 15 lakh dowry
Gorakhpur (UP) (PTI): A newly married man fled with the Rs 15 lakh given to him as dowry by the bride's family, and it came to light later that he was an alleged serial scammer, police said on Sunday.
The accused, identified as Pritam Kumar Nishad from Etawah, allegedly posed as an IAS officer to deceive the woman into marrying him. He is currently absconding with his sister, and a case has been filed against him for cheating, dowry harassment, and forgery, officials said.
According to the police, the woman's family claimed that they spent nearly Rs 30 lakh for the wedding that was solemnised on March 11.
The match was arranged through a matrimonial group, where the accused introduced himself as an IAS officer, sharing purported interview clips, office visuals, and photographs with politicians to gain the family's trust.
Despite initially claiming he would marry without dowry, the accused allegedly demanded Rs 15 lakh shortly before the engagement. The bride's family paid Rs 10 lakh in cash during the engagement and the remaining Rs 5 lakh on the wedding day, the police said.
The fraud came to light on Saturday after the woman reached Etawah, and a wedding attendee informed the family that the accused was not a civil servant. When her relatives visited the address provided by him, they found her in a small rented room, while the accused and his sister had fled, the police added.
The woman has also alleged that the accused planned to take her to Goa and sell her, and accused him of inappropriate behaviour.
The police suspect that the accused may have been involved in multiple such marriages in the past. Based on a complaint lodged at the cantonment police station, an FIR was registered on Saturday evening.
Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Kaustubh said efforts are underway to arrest the accused.
_vb_13.jpeg)
