Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar appears before ED in Delhi
He arrived at the agency's headquarters around 6:30pm and was accompanied by his supporters. He came to the national capital from Bengaluru, they said.
"It is my duty (to appear)... I have to respect the law. We are law-makers and law abiding citizens. They (ED) have summoned me... I don't know why they have called me under Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Let me see, hear them (PMLA). I am ready to face them," the Congress leader told reporters before entering the agency's office .
Shivakumar had to appear before the agency after the Karnataka HC on Thursday dismissed his petition challenging the summons issued to him by the ED.
Earlier in the day, Shivakumar indicated that his "instrumental role" in ensuring safe stay of Gujarat Congress MLAs in a Karnataka resort during the Rajya Sabha polls in 2017, amid allegations that BJP was trying to poach them, was the reason for the I-T searches and subsequent ED action .
The ED had in September last year registered a money laundering case against Shivakumar, Haumanthaiah, an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, and others. The case was filed based on a chargesheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the I-T department against him 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 S K Sharma of transporting huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through 'hawala' channels with help of three others.
Unaccounted cash of approximately Rs 20 crore was found and seized during raids in New Delhi and Bengaluru in August, 2017 which were directly relatable to Shivakumar, it had said.
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