As the Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar is returning to Bengaluru later today, after the Delhi High Court granted bail to him in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate,the Congress party is planning a grand welcome for their ‘Man Friday.’

The security at the airport is beefed up from where he is expected to lead a procession to the Congress office.

Shivakumar was granted bail on a personal bail bond and two sureties of Rs 25 lakh each. The court directed him not to leave the country without permission. The ED challenged the HC order and moved the Supreme Court on Friday.

After getting bail he spent a few days in Delhi meeting party colleagues.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi met him and assured all the support from the party to fight the “false case” against him.

Earlier, Sonia Gandhi visited Shivakumar at the Tihar Jail in Delhi as well on the day of his bail hearing. She was accompanied by party General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka KC Venugopal and party colleague Ambika Soni.

Karnataka Congress chief KC Venugopal too met him and later tweeted, “It was a moment of joy when Shri DK Shivakumar visited me today. BJP’s vendetta politics can never defeat us in our fight to save democracy.”

It was a moment of joy when Shri. @DKShivakumar visited me today. BJP’s vendetta politics can never defeat us in our fight to save democracy. pic.twitter.com/fEBqbEwHBs

— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) October 24, 2019

Shivakumar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 3 and he was in the agency’s custody. In September last year, the central agency had registered a money laundering case against him, Haumanthaiah (an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi) and others.

The Karnataka Congress leader has been on the radar of the Income Tax (I-T) Department and the ED since the demonetization in 2016. In an I-T raid at his New Delhi apartment on August 2, 2017, unaccounted Rs 8.83 crore cash was seized

Shivakumar and his associates were booked under Sections 277 and 278 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and Sections 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), 193 (punishment for false evidence) and 199 (false statements made in declaration which is by law receivable as evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Shivakumar’s affidavit submitted to the Election Commission before the Assembly elections in 2018 showed that his daughter Aishwarya owned assets of Rs 108 crore compared to only Rs 1.09 crore in 2013.

However, the Karnataka Congress leader clarified that his daughter Aishwarya was not dependent on his income and that he was still declaring her assets as per the Representation of Peoples Act.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on October 18 summoned Shivakumar’s wife and mother for questioning in connection with a money laundering case. Earlier, the ED has questioned Shivakumar’s daughter Aishwarya; his brother and MP DK Suresh; and Belagavi Rural MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar.