Ahead of by-elections, CBI raids DK Shivakumar

BENGALURU: In a surprise move, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday conducted simultaneous raids at 14 locations linked to the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar, his brother D K Suresh and excise baron and close associate of former, Sachin Narayan, over the alleged “possession of disproportionate assets (DA) of around `75 crore, which are in his name and in the name of his family members,” said CBI sources.

“The CBI raids were conducted at nine locations in Karnataka, five in Delhi and one in Mumbai subsequent to the registration of a case against Shivakumar and others under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1988,” said the officer. The Central anti-corruption agency has allegedly seized `57 lakh in cash, several incriminating documents including property papers, bank-related information and computer hard disks during the day-long raids,” the officer said. 

The CBI sleuths arrived at Shivakumar’s residence in Sadashivangar early morning just when he was about to hold a preparatory meeting with election coordinators and booth managers for the forthcoming Assembly by-polls in Sira and RR Nagar in Karnataka on November 3, KPCC spokesperson Suraj Urs told The New Indian Express.

The timing of the CBI raids against the KPCC president was questioned by Congress leaders, who termed them a political witch-hunt by the BJP. “The CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry in March this year against Shivakumar and others in the DA case. Why did the agency wait for six months to take action? It is obvious that the raids have been timed ahead of the by-polls,” said Congress insiders.

CBI filed PE in March this year against DKS

The CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry in March this year against the KPCC president and others in the DA case after the State government in October 2019 had sanctioned permission to the agency under Section 6 of the Delhi Special PoliceEstablishment (DSPE) Act, 1946 to inquire and investigate charges of corruption against him under the PCA. The CBI had written to the Karnataka government seeking permission to inquire and investigate the unaccounted cash of Rs 8.59 crore, which was seized by the Directorate of Income Tax (Investigation), Karnataka & Goa in August 2017 from one of the four flats in the upscale Safdarjung area of New Delhi, which is said to belong to Shivakumar.

In September 2018 the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a case against Shivakumar and his four associates under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 based on the chargesheet filed by the Income Tax (I-T) Departmentafter it raided 60 properties of Shivakumar and his associates in August 2017 and unearthed nearly Rs. 8.59 crore of cash at four of his premises in Delhi.

The  ED had arrested Shivakumar on September 3 last year under the PMLA and had referred the matter to the CBI for inquiry under the PCA. Shivakumar was in the ED custody till September 17, after which he was remanded to judicial custody in Tihar jail. He was released on October 23 last year.

BJP denies it’s politics of vendetta
The BJP has denied that the CBI raids on Congress state unit president D K Shivakumar and his family were “vendetta politics”, and a “politically motivated” move to derail the bypoll preparations. Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan said on Monday, “It is not correct to politicise the raids. Some people are trying to gain political mileage by doing this.” Income-Tax and Enforcement Directorate officials had earlier conducted raids at Shivakumar’s residence, and the CBI probe may be in continuation of investigations by the central agencies.