All eyes will be on the Delhi court hearing the bail plea of Karnataka Congress MLA DK Shivakumar. The hearing is slated to be held at 3 this afternoon.
Bengaluru: Wednesday (September 18) is a very important day for arrested Karnataka Congress MLA DK Shivakumar, in the money-laundering case.
A Delhi court, on Tuesday (September 17) remanded him in judicial custody till October 1, while adjourning the case related to his bail plea to Wednesday afternoon, at 3 pm.
While Shivakumar continues to be at the RML hospital, owing to his illness, what will transpire this afternoon will decide Shivakumar’s future.
There are two likely scenarios.
One, if the judge feels that the custody with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was sufficient enough to extract more details about the case that Shivakumar is involved in, he may grant him bail.
But considering that in the extension of the ED custody, he was in the hospital, for most of the time, the judge may feel the custody needs another extension.
And if the ED presses this point that they need more time to interrogate him, the judge may rule otherwise.
In the second scenario, if Shivakumar’s lawyers fail to get him bail, he will be sent to Tihar jail. That means he will face the same fate as former Union finance minister P Chidambaram. The ED will have to go there to interrogate him.
However, considering that the health of the accused is paramount, if Shivakumar’s lawyers continue to impress the judge that he needs to be in hospital, it is the doctors who will take a final call.
But Nataraj, the ED counsel was voluble in telling the court on Tuesday that the medical facilities at Tihar jail are also good enough.
So all eyes will be on the Delhi court this afternoon.
Meanwhile, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, the Congress MLA from Belagavi has been summoned by the ED. Though it is said she pleaded to be interrogated at her residence itself, but the ED has not responded on the issue. She will be flying to Delhi to appear before it on September 19.
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