In a major setback to the Karnataka Congress, its chief troubleshooter and former minister D.K. Shivakumar was arrested on Tuesday by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case. He was arrested after being questioned for four days by the agency in its Delhi office.
Shivakumar was arrested under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He will be produced before a Delhi court on Wednesday by the ED for seeking his custody.
Shivakumar, the sitting MLA from Kanakapura seat, landed in Delhi on Friday to appear before the ED after the Karnataka High Court on Thursday dismissed his petition challenging the summons issued to him by the agency.
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The senior Congress leader is facing what he feared the most—a prosecution in the suspected Hawala case. The ED had registered the case based on a complaint filed by the Income Tax department alleging that Shivakumar had wilfully evaded tax and also filed a false statement.
Shivakumar, along with four others—Sachin Narayan, Sunil Kumar Sharma, Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah and Rajendra N.—, is an accused in the case related to unaccounted cash recovered from his four flats in Delhi in 2017.
According sources, the I-T sleuths, during their simultaneous raids in Shivakumar's residence and offices across 82 locations in Bengaluru and Delhi, had recovered unaccounted cash worth Rs 8.59 crore from Safdarjung Enclave apartments in Delhi.
In his statement, Shivakumar is said to have admitted that around Rs 41 lakh of the total cash seized belonged to him and that it was the agriculture income earned from his ancestral property. However, he failed to provide evidence for the same.
In the 33-page complaint filed by deputy director (Investigations) of Income Tax T. Sunil Gautam, the accused have been charged under IPC Sections 193, 199, 210B, Income Tax Act Sections 276C (1), 277 and 278 and CrPC 200. While Sachin is known to be Shivakumar's business partner, Anjaneya is a liaison officer at Karnataka Bhavan, Delhi. Rajendra handles the cash transactions of Shivakumar in Delhi. The complaint alleges that Shivakumar had invested illegal cash in real estate business.
Two years ago, when the I-T sleuths raided Eagleton resorts on the outskirts of Bengaluru (where Congress MLAs from Gujarat were camping), Shivakumar had allegedly torn loose sheets of paper despite the officials asking him to hand over all documents in his possession. The officials found that the paper carried details of transactions in codes. During the raids in Delhi, too, IT sleuths reportedly found a diary at Rajendra's house, which too had coded information on financial transactions.
Shivakumar, who addressed a press meet before heading to Delhi, told reporters that it was a "big political conspiracy" and he had done nothing illegal.
"On August 2, 2017, I had kept the Gujarat MLAs at a resort to help my party. The I-T sleuths came with CRPF men and raided 80 places. For the last two years, I have been witch-hunted. I have declared my actual income of Rs 120 crore till March 31. But they sought more information. My widowed mother is dependent on us—her two sons. But all her property is declared is benami. All our properties, including my sister's property, have been attached. They have sucked out every drop of my blood. I have been a victim of circumstances. I am a law abiding citizen. I am a loyal party worker," said Shivakumar.
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Shivakumar, a CM-in-waiting who is also one of the front-runners for the state party chief's post, has once again found himself in a tight spot. A rattled Congress party alleged it was a political vendetta by the BJP.
On multiple occasions, Shivakumar had turned a messiah for his party by keeping their party MLAs together. A trusted lieutenant of the Congress high command, the Vokkaliga strongman is a master strategist who has shielded the party from rough political weather.
Shivakumar and his brother D.K. Suresh holds sway in the Kanakapura constituency. His family is linked to illegal granite mining and transport, and is accused of land grabbing and is waging legal battles. His latest affidavit had mentioned two criminal cases including the recent charges of evading income tax, giving false information and economic offences.
Will the ED case prove to be the end of the road for the ambitious leader? Many see P. Chidambaram's detention by the CBI in the INX Media case and now Shivakumar's arrest by the ED as a ploy of the ruling BJP to intimidate the opposition parties. But the fact remains. Shivakumar has a lot to answer before playing the victim card, especially over the recovery of unaccounted cash from his Delhi flats.
