ED summons Shivakumar in money laundering case; DK questions timing

BENGALURU: The Enforcement Directorate has issued a summon to Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar in connection with a money laundering case.

Reacting to the ED move, the senior Congress leader, who is currently busy making arrangements for the arrival of Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in the state, questioned the timing of the summon.

"In the midst of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the ongoing Assembly session, they have again issued me a summon to appear before the ED. I am ready to cooperate with the probe, but the timing of this summon and the harassment I am made to go through is coming in the way of discharging my constitutional and political duties," Shivakumar, who is in Mysore, tweeted on Thursday.

Even as the Karnataka Assembly session is underway, Shivakumar has been busy making preperations for the arrival of Bharat Jodo Yatra in the state.

In August this year, a Delhi court had granted bail to Shivakumar and other accused persons in connection with a 2018 money laundering case registered by the ED.

According to the financial probe agency, Shivakumar, who was a minister in Karnataka during the Congress regime, had generated huge amount of illegal and unaccounted cash and a criminal conspiracy was hatched with other co-accused persons for tax evasion and the tainted cash was transported from Bengaluru to Delhi.

The Income Tax Department had conducted search and seizure operations on August 2, 2017 at various properties in Delhi belonging to the accused persons, seizing unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs 8,59,69,100, the probe agency had said.