<p>The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protection from arrest to a Karnataka Bhawan employee and a former staffer, who are co-accused with former minister and senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar in a money-laundering case.</p>.<p>A bench of Justices R F Nariman, Surya Kant and V Ramasubramanian granted relief to petitioners Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah and Rajendra N on their plea against the summons issued by the ED to them.</p>.<p>The court issued notice to the investigating agency on a special leave petition as well as writ petition filed by them. The petitioners were represented by senior advocate A M Singhvi.</p>.<p>“No coercive action shall be taken against the petitioners in the meanwhile,” the bench said.</p>.<p>The Karnataka High Court had last month dismissed the plea by Anjaneya and others in connection with the summons issued by the ED.</p>.<p>The ED had in September 2018 registered the money-laundering case against Shivakumar, Haumanthaiah and others.</p>.<p>The case was 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 tax evasion and ‘hawala’ transactions worth crores of rupees.</p>.<p>The I-T department has accused Shivakumar and his alleged associates of transporting huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through ‘hawala’ channels with the help of the other accused.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protection from arrest to a Karnataka Bhawan employee and a former staffer, who are co-accused with former minister and senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar in a money-laundering case.</p>.<p>A bench of Justices R F Nariman, Surya Kant and V Ramasubramanian granted relief to petitioners Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah and Rajendra N on their plea against the summons issued by the ED to them.</p>.<p>The court issued notice to the investigating agency on a special leave petition as well as writ petition filed by them. The petitioners were represented by senior advocate A M Singhvi.</p>.<p>“No coercive action shall be taken against the petitioners in the meanwhile,” the bench said.</p>.<p>The Karnataka High Court had last month dismissed the plea by Anjaneya and others in connection with the summons issued by the ED.</p>.<p>The ED had in September 2018 registered the money-laundering case against Shivakumar, Haumanthaiah and others.</p>.<p>The case was 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 tax evasion and ‘hawala’ transactions worth crores of rupees.</p>.<p>The I-T department has accused Shivakumar and his alleged associates of transporting huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through ‘hawala’ channels with the help of the other accused.</p>
