New Delhi / BENGALURU: Senior Congress leader and former minister D.K. Shivakumar on Friday appeared before Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Delhi for questioning in a money laundering case after the Karnataka High Court rejected his plea seeking an extension to appear before the ED or protection from arrest if he appeared before the agency.
Officials said the statement of the former state minister will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The central agency had in September last year, registered a money laundering case against Shivakumar and others based on a charge sheet filed by the Income-Tax Department against him before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions worth crores.
Earlier, while rejecting his plea seeking more time to appear before the ED, Justice Arvind Kumar of the Karnataka high court, who on Thursday had dismissed Shivakumar’s petition questioning the summons issued against him, observed that the court cannot grant such relief sought by the petitioner as Section 362 of the CrPC prohibits it from doing so. According to Section 362, once the judge has signed the judgment , it becomes final in so far as the court is concerned.
Mr Shivakumar, 57, made national headlines when he shepherded 44 Congress legislators from Gujarat to a resort to prevent them from being poached by the BJP ahead of a crucial Rajya Sabha election. Soon afterwards, Income Tax officials came knocking on his door and the properties of his friends, relatives and associates were also raided in August 2017.
Meanwhile, top guns of the Congress including former CM, Siddaramaiah and KPCC president, Dinesh Gundurao charged that central agencies like the CBI and ED were becoming weapons of harassment under Modi rule.
