In a major setback to former water resources minister D.K. Shivakumar, the Karnataka High Court on Thursday dismissed his plea seeking quashing of the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a case related to unaccounted cash found in his flats in Delhi in August 2017.
The court has allowed the ED to continue with its investigation and also observed that there is evidence of black money in the case.
The ED is likely to issue fresh summons to the Congress's trouble-shooter to probe into his alleged involvement in Hawala transactions. Shivakumar is planning to appeal before the Supreme Court on Friday, say sources.
It may be recalled that the ED had filed a case under Section 120 B of Information Technology Act (criminal conspiracy) 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 the accused in the case related to unaccounted cash recovered from four flats in Delhi in 2017.
According sources, the I-T sleuths, during simultaneous raids in Shivakumar's residence and offices across Bengaluru and Delhi, had recovered unaccounted cash worth Rs 8.59 crore from Safdarjung Enclave apartments in Delhi. The flats belonging to Shivakumar and his associates were allegedly used to stash illegal cash.
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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 cash transactions of Shivakumar in Delhi. The complaint mentions that Shivakumar had invested illegal cash in real estate business.
Two years back, when IT 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 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.
Now, with the HC dismissing his plea, Shivakumar will have to face prosecution failing which the ED might seek his custody. Shivakumar, a CM-in-waiting and one of the front-runners for the state party chief's post, once again finds himself in a tight spot.
A rattled Congress party alleged it was a political witch-hunting by the BJP. "This is BJP's strategy of misusing central agencies to harass opposition party members. It is their "Amnesty scheme" to blackmail and arm-twist opponents to join the BJP. It is a major challenge facing the country today. The Congress is ready to face such challenges. The IT raids on our party members during the assembly elections are all part of this," said KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao.
