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Shivakumar tried to misguide probe, ED to Delhi court; gets 9-day custody
The Karnataka politician, seen as the Congress’ lead trouble-shooter in the state, was arrested last evening after four rounds of questioning over the last 10 days.
A court in New Delhi on Wednesday sent Congress leader DK Shivakumar in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody until September 13, saying the allegations against him were very serious in nature and required his custodial interrogation.
The ED arrested Shivakumar, a former Karnataka minister, on Tuesday citing enough evidence of alleged money laundering arrest him.
The ED earlier on Wednesday informed the court that it found “some loose sheets” from Shivakumar’s residence mentioning “cash payments of ~44 crore to different persons between 2014 and 2016”. While seeking his custody, the agency said Shivakumar has not been truthful and needs to be confronted with voluminous documents to establish alleged money laundering.
Watch | DK Shivakumar arrested: What’s the case against the Congress strongman
The ED claimed that Shivakumar was evasive and non-cooperative and there was “phenomenal growth” in his income while he held an important position. Additional solicitor general K M Nataraj and special public prosecutors N K Matta and Nitesh Rana appeared for the ED and argued that Shivakumar’s custody was imperative to “unearth the source of proceeds of crime and modus operandi”. The ED argued that Shivakumar is accused of “great economic offence” and has not explained the cash allegedly seized in the case. The agency claimed that the accused has not named his auditors and refused to acknowledge the recovery of documents from his house mentioning cash transactions. It said that he was also evasive on details of financial transactions and could not furnish the details of his income from agricultural activities.
Shivakumar’s lawyer, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, argued that his client is not a flight risk. He added that Shivakumar has joined the investigation multiple times and has been interrogated for 33 hours. Singhvi said that the agency ignored this and has straightaway asked for 14-day custody. He informed the court that the ED’s case is based on the one that the Income Tax (I-T) department filed in June 2018. He added that the Karnataka high court stayed the case under several sections of the I-T department on August 20, while the remaining ones are compoundable offences. He objected to ED’s submission that his client was not being truthful. “If the prosecutor is going to decide what is the truth and what is not then why do we need the judge?” he asked.
Separately, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi attacked the Centre over Shivakumar’s arrest. In a tweet, Gandhi called the arrest “another example of the vendetta politics unleashed by the government”.
Shivakumar earlier called the cases against him “politically motivated” and said he is a victim of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s politics of vengeance and vendetta.
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters that Shivakumar’s only crime was that he provided protection to Gujarat Congress lawmakers whom the BJP was trying to poach during the Rajya Sabha elections in 2017.
He accused the BJP of continued “persecution” of opposition leaders to cover up the complete breakdown of governance. Tewari called the arrest of Shivakumar the latest in a series of “continued political vendetta”.
“Has there been any conviction of any opposition leaders in the last five years? For the last five years, this politics of persecution has been carried on relentlessly against opposition leaders of every shade and hue,” Tewari added.“Persecution only requires misuse and abuse of state instruments. When the lawyers of the government plead for custodial interrogation in the courts of law, it is a euphemism for physical, mental and emotional torture of their political opponents,” he said. He added that the Congress is not going to be intimidated. “As the premier political party, it will continue to ask the hard questions. We will continue to demand answers, we will continue to agitate ...We will not allow democracy to be stifled through intimidation being perpetrated by the NDA-BJP government,” he added.
