“Not Committed Any Rape”: Karnataka Congress’s DK Shivakumar On Summons
Bengaluru: DK Shivakumar, Karnataka Congress’s chief troubleshooter and former minister, will appear before the Enforcement Directorate in Delhi this afternoon in connection with a money-laundering case. The probe agency called him again last night after his petition challenging the summons was rejected by the Karnataka High Court yesterday.
“Please don’t take tension, I have not taken tension, there is no need to take tension. I have not committed any mistake. I have not committed any rape or taken money, there is nothing against me,” Mr Shivakumar told reporters in Bengaluru this morning, adding he he is being targeted.
The Enforcement Directorate registered a money-laundering case against DK Shivakumar and a few others in September last year for alleged tax evasion and illegal transactions worth crores.
Mr Shivakumar has approached the Karnataka High Court’s division bench against yesterday’s order that rejected his petition against the probe agency’s summons.
Mr Shivakumar, an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi and others were named in the case.
“From the past two years, the entire property of my 84-year-old mother has been attached by various investigation authorities as benami property and I am the benami there. Our entire blood has already been sucked,” he told reporters.
He tweeted this morning that he received the Enforcement Agency’s summons at 9:40 last night. “Although the sudden scheduling by ED is malafide, I believe in rule of law & will definitely participate & fully co-operate with them and abide by the law of our country,” he wrote on Twitter.
Mr Shivakumar, a politician known for his negotiation skills, led the Congress’s attempts to convince the rebel MLAs before the JD(S)-Congress government collapsed in July. Last month, he tried every possible ruse in his book to enter a five-star hotel in Mumbai where a group of rebel MLAs were staying. He waited outside the hotel for hours and stood in rain as he tried to convince the police to let him go inside.
Often called “DK Shi” in Karnataka’s political circles, Mr Shivakumar, 57, made national headlines that year when he agreed to accommodate 44 party legislators from Gujarat at a resort to prevent them from being poached by the BJP ahead of a crucial Rajya Sabha election. Soon after, Income Tax officials came knocking on Mr Shivakumar’s door.Several properties linked to the Congress leader were also raided in August 2017.
He said that the Income Tax raids were “politically motivated” for hosting the Gujarat MLAs.
