BENGALURU: Senior advocate Kapil Sibal on Thursday contended before the Karnataka High Court that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) cannot constitute prosecution against Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as neither an FIR nor a complaint has been filed.
Sibal, a Congress leader, argued before Justice Aravind Kumar that Section 120-B (Conspiracy) of IPC was invoked against Shivakumar with an ulterior motive to harass him by initiating proceedings under PMLA. The proceedings were initiated based on the Enforcement Directorate investigation report and this procedure is unknown to law, he said.
There is no scheduled offence against Shivakumar, he argued while informing the court about the Special Court discharging Shivakumar from the cases registered by the I-T Department. The ED sought time for arguments. Hence, the court adjourned the hearing to Monday.