ED files chargesheet against DK Shivakumar in 2018 money laundering case

Three years after he got bail in the case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, May 26, submitted a chargesheet in a Delhi court against Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar over alleged money laundering. The case, registered by the ED in 2018, was filed in a Bengaluru court against DK Shivakumar and others, and was based on a chargesheet by the Income tax department.

Reacting to the development, Congress MP DK Suresh, brother of Shivakumar, said on Thursday that the charges against his brother are politically motivated and they will not bow down before the BJP government. "We will ask our advocate to get a copy from the court," Suresh added. He also alleged that the BJP was “misusing” institutions to implicate Shivakumar.

The I-T department had accused Shivakumar and his associate SK Sharma of transporting huge amounts of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through 'hawala' channels with the help of three other accused. Shivakumar, 60, was arrested by the ED in this case in 2019, and a number of people and associates, including his daughter Aisshwarya and Congress MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar, were questioned by the agency.

Reacting to the ED chargesheet, DKS alleged that all "political weapons" are being used against him, ahead of 2023 Assembly polls in the state. He claimed that the chargesheet is "part of a plan to eliminate people, whom the ruling dispensation fear may create trouble for them politically or don't surrender to them", adding that he is ready to "face everything".

"I have got to know that some national channels are reporting that they (ED) have filed a chargesheet. They have submitted it to the court, we have not been given a copy yet. The court will give us the copy. Usually it has to be filed within 60 days from the day I was jailed, but they have filed it after 3-3.5 years after large scale investigation," Shivakumar said.

Noting that within 60 days of being jailed an interim chargesheet has to be filed, Shivakumar said he got bail before that. There were attempts to cancel his bail, but the Supreme Court rejected it; now the chargesheet has been filed and he expects notice to be served soon, he added. "Naturally we have to face it and we will face it. We are law abiding citizens. We know that law has been taken for a ride, misused, there is a lot of pressure, but still we will face it," he said.

Shivakumar hinted that the ruling BJP "eliminates people, whom they fear may create trouble for them politically". "Either you should go with them or surrender to them or else such people are eliminated, they are in that process now. I wish them all the best," he added.

The ED’s chargesheet comes ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections in the state, and is seen by some as a setback for DK Shivakumar’s campaign.