Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS) 

Bengaluru, Sep 1: The refusal of the request by former minister D K Shivakumar with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to exempt him from attending the hearing on Monday, September 2 in the wake of Ganesha Chaturthi festival has not gone well with former CM H D Kumaraswamy. 

The ED is showing vengeance on Shivakumar, said the former CM. Shivakumar had attended a hearing with the ED in New Delhi on Saturday, August 31 with regards to the money laundering case that is filed against him and others. He has been asked to appear before ED on Monday again. 

File photo

Kumaraswamy took to twitter to express his anger on the ED. In his tweet he said, "Gauri Ganesha is an important festival for Hindus. D K Shivakumar had asked for a day to observe the festival. However, ED officials denied him even this. If this is not vindictive attitude, then what is?" 

D K Shivakumar was questioned all-day long by the ED on Saturday. His request from exempting to appear for hearing on Monday was rejected. A dejected Shivakumar said that his family offers prayers to ancestors on the day of Ganesha Chaturthi but this time he cannot do it due to ED hearing. 

Shivakumar said that he has been asked to appear for hearing at 11 am on Monday and he has accepted the same. 

The investigating officer of ED had intensive questioning of D K Shivakumar on Friday for four hours and recorded the statements of the former minister under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). 

Shivakumar was asked by the ED to appear for hearing as his request for cancellation of summons was rejected by Karnataka high court. The state Congress accused the central government on Friday of misusing the central agency like ED and others to take revenge against individuals of opposition parties. 

According to the former minister, the role which he had played during the resort stay of Congress MLAs of Gujarat during the Rajya Sabha election of 2017, in the midst of the allegations that the BJP was trying to woo them to vote in their favour, had irked the BJP central leadership and they are trying to take revenge by getting Income Tax raid on his residence and letting the ED question him. 

A money laundering case against D K Shivakumar, Hanumanthaiah, an employee of Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi and others was registered by the ED in September 2018. This case was based on the prosecution complaint filed by the Income Tax department on Shivakumar in the special court in Bengaluru alleging tax evasion and hawala transactions to the tune of several crore. 

D K Shivakumar and his close aide S K Sharma were accused by the Income Tax department of laundering huge amounts of unaccounted cash through hawala regularly in cooperation with three other individuals, who are also accused in the case.