The Karnataka High Court ordered the conditional release of Rs.53.46 lakh cash seized from a private company and an individual during raids conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with a corruption case registered against Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar.
The CBI had conducted searches on the premises belonging to the company and also at the house of Sachin Narayan in October 2020. Both had moved separate applications before the special court for MPs/MLAs claiming interim custody of the seized cash. The special court had rejected the applications.
Both the petitioners contended that they have been into the business of multi-system operators and during the course of business, collected cash from various local cable operators. Before it could be deposited into the bank to be further remitted to the broadcasters, the cash was seized by the police.
The Special Public Prosecutor for CBI argued that Sachin Narayan is a business partner of D K Shivakumar’s wife and the investigation into the source of her funds is in progress. He also contended that the explanation offered by the petitioners cannot be believed since in all other cases the cash collected by the local cable operators were directly deposited into the bank account of the petitioners.
The single judge bench of Justice John Michael Cunha has said that there is no prima facie material to show the cash seized from Wellworth Software, Bengaluru, or the residence of Sachin is related to the proceeds of the crime alleged against DK Shivakumar or his wife.
The High Court directed that the release of amount is subject to them executing indemnity bond for the equal amount and surety for the like sum to the satisfaction of the trial court in terms of the guidelines issued by the apex court in the case of Sunderbhai Ambalal Desai vs. State of Gujarat on release of seized material in criminal cases.
“From documents produced by the petitioners, explaining the source of the funds, seized from their possession, it has to be held that the petitioners are the rightful owners of the seized amount and are legally entitled for the interim custody of the seized cash. Even otherwise, the interim release of the seized property (cash) does not preclude the CBI from investigating into the source of the said funds of the public servant,” the court observed.
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