The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the Enforcement Directorate’s response in connection with a money laundering case against Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar, PTI reported. Shivakumar has challenged a special court order dismissing his bail plea.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait issued the notice to the investigating agency, and listed it for hearing on October 14.

Senior counsel Dayan Krishnan, representing Shivakumar, argued that the case under the Prevention of Money of Laundering Act was not sustainable as there was no predicate offence (a component of a more serious offence. For example – if illegally receiving funds is a primary offence, money laundering will be the predicate offence). The lawyer contended that the predicate offence in Shivakumar’s case was not a scheduled offence under the Act, which meant that the Enforcement Directorate could not initiate the inquiry, according to Bar and Bench.

Shivakumar, who is in Delhi’s Tihar jail at present, was arrested on September 3. His judicial custody will end on October 1. In September 2018, the Enforcement Directorate had registered a money laundering case against him on the basis of a chargesheet filed by the Income Tax Department in a special court in Bengaluru. He is accused of evading tax and being involved in alleged hawala transactions worth crores of rupees.

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