Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Aug 30: Influential leader of the Congress party of the state and former minister D K Shivakumar is facing the possibility of getting arrested as his petition, which was filed in the high court seeking the cancellation of summons sent by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to present himself for an inquiry, was quashed by the high court on Thursday, August 29.

The ED officials, who got alerted as soon as the verdict of the court came in their favour, went to the residence of former minister D K Shivakumar at Sadashivnagar in city on the night of Thursday, August 29 itself and served the summons and asked him to present himself for an inquiry on Friday, August 30.

The ED had sent a summons to DKS to attend for inquiry with regards to the unaccounted money and documents of property that was unearthed from his houses in Delhi during the Income Tax department raid. The applications of the other accused, who are said to be close aides of Shivakumar, like Sachin Narayana, Sunil Kumar Sharma, Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah and Rajendra were also quashed by the high court.

The one-member bench comprising of Justice Aravind Kumar, which conducted the inquiry on all the applications gave its verdict on Thursday and ordered the quashing of all the applications.

The ED has already registered Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) with regards to the case. In its verdict, the high court said, "This is a case that is eligible for investigation. In addition, the chief director of Income Tax department has given permission for the prosecution. It is not right to honour the appeal of the applicants at this juncture of asking the court to interfere and also requesting stay on the summons. Hence all the applications seeking cancellation are quashed. The concerned persons can submit the documents in their defense in front of the investigating officer. This case is not eligible to be resolved under section 122 of the Constitution also."

In addition to quashing of the request for cancellation of summons, the court did not honour the interim appeal requesting the court to grant stay on the summons till the final resolving of the application. So ED, at any point of time, can implement its summons and take further action. In such a situation, it is for sure that D K Shivakumar will get entangled by the law.

Reacting to the development, D K Shivakumar said, "I will attend the inquiry by the Enforcement Directorate officials, whenever and wherever they ask me to attend. Rest things will be discussed tomorrow."