The Enforcement Directorate had first written to the Karnataka government on September 9, 2019, informing it was taking up a money-laundering probe against current Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The probe aimed to unearth the proceeds of crime based on an ongoing Income Tax probe against the senior Congress leader and his associates for offences punishable under various sections of the I-T Act and Indian Penal Code.
The ED, while investigating these offences, found that the persons under investigation had violated provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Since these persons were working in the Karnataka government, the information was shared with the state government for taking appropriate action in accordance with law.
Accordingly, the Karnataka government decided to carry out an investigation and a sanction was given to the CBI under the Delhi Police Special Establishment Act, 1946, for launching a probe into all the violations of the Prevention of Corruption Act by Shivakumar and other officials. The order said that the CBI would identify and investigate the persons involved.
It is here that the CBI sleuths stepped in and registered a preliminary inquiry at the anti-corruption branch in Bengaluru against Shivakumar and his associates, Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah and Shashi Kumar S.
While Shivakumar and others have denied all allegations, an inquiry was conducted by CBI to ascertain whether the facts prima facie revealed that Shivakumar and his family members are in possession of assets disproportionate to their known sources of income during the period from April 1, 2013, to April 30, 2018, and whether the two associates had aided him for the same.
The CBI followed the lead of the Enforcement Directorate to register its FIR against Shivakumar, accusing him of possessing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 74.93 crore in his name and in the names of his family members. The FIR registered on October 3 was followed by searches at 14 locations including in Karnataka, Delhi and Mumbai and the premises of the MLA and others on Monday. Monday’s searches led to recovery of approximately Rs 57 lakh in cash and several incriminating documents including property documents, bank-related information and computer hard disks. Investigation is continuing, said the agency.
CBI, in its FIR, said that the inquiry officer of the preliminary investigation has submitted a report that prima facie disclosed that Shivakumar and his dependent family members amassed assets disproportionate to their known sources of income from the period from April 1, 2013, to April 30, 2018.
During this period, Shivakumar was functioning as a public servant in the capacity of cabinet minister in the Karnataka government, said the CBI officials.
The CBI in its FIR said that Shivakumar and his family members were found to be in possession of movable and immovable assets to the tune of Rs 33,92, 62, 793 as on April 1, 2013, and these details are also available as per the election affidavit of Shivakumar dated April 13, 2013.
“It is further disclosed that during the period from April 1, 2013, to April 30, 2018, Shivakumar and his family members acquired assets, movable and immovable, to the tune of Rs 128,60,81,700 and the total value of all assets held by them as on April 30, 2018 is to the tune of Rs 162,53,44,494,” says the CBI in its FIR.
In the FIR, the CBI said it further came to light that their total income and receipts during this period was to the tune of Rs 166,79,58,216 and their total expenditure was around Rs 113,12,16,585. It is here that the accused were found to have been in possession of disproportionate assets amounting to Rs 74,93, 40, 069, which is 44.93 per cent of their total income during the given period.
The CBI said that this difference in assets cannot be satisfactorily explained by the accused. The facts disclosed the commission of offences that are punishable under various section of the Prevention of Corruption Act, said the CBI in its FIR against the senior Congress party leader. Y. Harikumar, additional superintendent of police in CBI’s anti-corruption bureau in Bengaluru has been entrusted with the investigation of the case.
Meanwhile, the Congress said that the CBI action was part of the “raid raj” of the BJP governments in Bengaluru and at the Centre.