JOIN USCBI case comes two years after ED booked Shivakumar on money laundering charges
The CBI registering a case of amassing disproportionate assets against Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar and conducting raids at premises linked to him on Monday, came two years after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a money laundering case and a year after his arrest by the agency during which he spent 50 days in jail.
The CBI action, the first against Shivakumar, also came days after a businessman Iqbal Hussain who is considered close to the Congress leader, was questioned by the ED on properties and business dealings of the former Karnataka Minister.
Shivakumar, a trouble-shooter for the Congress, has denied all allegations against him.
The ED had registered a case under the Pention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Shivakumar and four of his associates, including an employee of the Karnataka Bhavan in Delhi, in September 2018 on the basis of an Income Tax Department charge-sheet, claiming that he evaded tax and indulged in hawala deals.
After several rounds of questioning, Shivakumar was arrested by the ED on September 3 last year, days after former Finance Minister P Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI in the INX Media case. The Opposition had then alleged a "witch-hunt" of Opposition leaders by the Narendra Modi government using central investigative agencies.
He spent 50 days in ED and judicial custody before he was granted bail by the Delhi High Court.
According to the ED, Shivakumar is accused of transporting huge amounts of unaccounted cash regularly through ‘hawala’ channels with the help of his associate S K Sharma, who runs a transport firm.
Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah, the Karnataka Bhavan employee is accused of handling unaccounted cash of Shivakumar in Delhi while another associate Rajendra deals with Shivakumar’s immovable properties. Narayan, a business partner, is also named by the ED in its case.
The I-T Department had claimed that it had seized unaccounted cash of around Rs 8.5 crore from Shivakumar. It had claimed that Shivakumar had set up "an extensive network" of persons and premises across Delhi and Bengaluru in order to transport and utilise unaccounted cash.
Sources said that the CBI registering a case against Shivakumar was based on source information from another agency and it related to assets amassed during Shivakumar's tenure as a minister in Karnataka.