ED arrests Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar in money laundering case

BENGALURU: Senior Congress leader and former Irrigation Minister in the Congress-JD(S) coalition government DK Shivakumar was on Tuesday arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions.

The ED in September 2018 had registered a case against Shivakumar and his four associates - Sachin Narayan (business associate), Sunil Kumar Sharma (proprietor of Sharma Transport), Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah (employee at Karnataka Bhawan, New Delhi) and N Rajendran (former state government employee), under the PMLA based on a charge sheet, which was filed by the I-T Department, Karnataka & Goa against them before a Special Court for Economic Offences (SCEO) in Bengaluru.

Delhi: Ruckus outside the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office as supporters of Congress leader DK Shivakumar gather in large numbers. He has been arrested by the agency, under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). pic.twitter.com/v7Kg7dm2IG

— ANI (@ANI) September 3, 2019

The ED had issued summons to Shivakumar on August 29 under the PMLA. He is being questioned by the central agency in Delhi since then. “The ED had examined the chargesheet, which was filed by the I-T to verify if it contained any material for the agency to take cognizance of under the PMLA,” official sources on condition of anonymity told The New Indian Express.

Mr. Shivakumar has been under the scanner of income tax authorities since August 2017, when the Directorate of Income Tax (Investigation), Karnataka & Goa had raided the Eagleton Golf Resort in Bidadi in suburban Bengaluru, where he had hosted 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha elections. Tax raids lasting a week, which were conducted at nearly 60 premises of Mr Shivakumar, his relatives and associates across Karnataka and in Delhi had reportedly led to the recovery of over Rs 10 crore in cash from the four properties in Delhi and in Karnataka, which are said to be linked to them.

Following the raids the I-T Department had filed a case against Mr.Shivakumar (accused number one) and others under section 276C (1) (tax evasion) and 277 (false statement) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and under section 193 (false evidence) and 199 (false statement in evidence) read with section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

ALSO READ | DK Shivakumar meets experts ahead of grilling

Mr Shivakumar has been charged with tax evasion, indulging in hawala transactions running into crores of rupees with the help of his four associates and for destroying evidence. He had torn a piece of paper during the Eagleton resort raid, which reportedly had information on his financial transactions. The SCEO had summoned the minister granted him bail in the three cases in March last year. In June 2018 the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had searched the premises of the aides of Shivakumar and his brother DK Suresh, who is also the Bengaluru rural MP,  in connection with an April 2017 FIR in a bank fraud case of Rs 10 lakh at Corporation Bank, Ramanagara in the post-demonetization period. [

The Congress party has protested against the tax raids against Mr. Shivakumar and has called them an act of “political vendetta.”