ED arrests Congress leader Shivakumar in Money Laundering Case

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested senior Congress leader from Karnataka DK Shivakumar in connection with a money laundering case. The former minister and sitting MLA appeared before the ED for questioning for the fourth time yesterday at its headquarters in New Delhi. 

Shivakumar was placed under arrest as per provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) last night. Officials said, the probe agency wants the Congress leader to be put through custodial interrogation and hence he was arrested. Shivakumar will be produced before a court in New Delhi today by the ED for seeking his custody.

The central agency had in September last year registered the money laundering case against



Shivakumar, Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah, an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, and others. Shivakumar had to appear before the agency after the Karnataka High Court last week dismissed his petition challenging the summons issued to him by the ED.

The ED had filed a PMLA case against him and others based on a charge sheet filed by the Income Tax Department against them last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions worth crores. The I-T department has accused Shivakumar and his associate SK Sharma of transporting huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through 'hawala' channels with the help of three other accused.