New Delhi, 5 March

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a money laundering probe against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.

The Congress leader had moved the top court against the Karnataka High Court order that refused to quash the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons issued to him in an alleged case of money laundering.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan granted the relief to Shivakumar.

The case dates back to August 2017 when the Income Tax department had carried out searches at multiple premises in Delhi as part of its alleged tax evasion probe against Shivakumar, his alleged business associate and liquor trader Sachin Narayan, another associate Sunil Kumar Sharma who operated a fleet of luxury buses, Karnataka Bhawan (Delhi) employee A Hanumanthaiah and former state government employee and caretaker posted at the Karnataka Bhawan Rajendra N.

The department during the searches had seized more than Rs 8.59 crore, out of which more than Rs 41 lakh has now been adjusted as tax liability of Shivakumar and more than Rs 7.58 lakh as that of Sharma after they claimed the money as their agriculture income and business income, respectively.

The tax department later filed a charge-sheet before a Bengaluru court on charges of tax evasion against all the accused and the Enforcement Directorate took cognisance of this complaint to file a money laundering case in 2018.