ED registers money laundering case against Shivakumar

In fresh trouble for Karnataka Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar, the Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case against him and his associates, including a Karnataka Bhavan employee in the national capital.

The ED’s FIR came on the basis of an Income Tax Department charge sheet accusing Shivakumar and others of tax evasion and hawala deals.

Besides Shivakumar, those named in the FIR include Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah, an employee at Karnataka Bhavan, and his associates Narayan, S K Sharma and N Rajendra.

Shivakumar was not available for comment.

The ED will soon summon those named in the FIR for recording their statements.

Shivakumar is accused of transporting huge amounts of unaccounted cash regularly through ‘hawala’ channels with the help of his associate S K Sharma. According to investigators, Narayan is Shivakumar’s business partner while Sharma runs a transport firm. Hanumanthaiah is claimed to have handled unaccounted cash of Shivakumar in Delhi while Rajendra deals with Shivakumar’s immovable properties. The I-T Department had claimed that it had seized unaccounted cash of around Rs 20 crore from Shivakumar.