The CBI on Monday raided the Bengaluru residence of D.K. Shivakumar, chief of the Karnataka unit of the Congress.
Media reports claim the CBI action at Shivakumar's residence was related to money-laundering charges. Local media outlets reported that the CBI is also searching the house of Congress leader D.K. Suresh, who is the brother of Shivakumar.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala lashed out at the CBI as being a puppet of the BJP. Surjewala tweeted, "The insidious game of intimidation & machinations of Modi-Yeddyurappa duo being executed by a puppet CBI by raiding @DKShivakumar won’t deter us. CBI should be unearthing the layers of corruption in Yeddyurappa Govt. But, ‘Raid Raj’ is their only ‘Machiavellian Move’ !"
Shivakumar had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in September 2019 in connection with a money-laundering case. Shivakumar spent 50 days in jail in Delhi before getting bail from the Delhi High Court in connection with the case.
In August 2017, the Income Tax Department conducted raids at numerous locations linked to Shivakumar and his brother, D.K. Suresh, in Delhi, Chennai and Karnataka. Shivakumar was at the time a minister in the Karnataka government. During the time, Shivakumar was instrumental in harbouring over 40 Congress MLAs from Gujarat at a resort in Karnataka to ‘protect’ them from poaching ahead of a high-profile Rajya Sabha election battle in Gujarat, which was won by Ahmed Patel. The Income Tax Department claimed to have found Rs 10 crore in unaccounted money from Shivakumar.
Both the Congress and Shivakumar had described the past actions by Central agencies against him as a political witch-hunt.
