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Request for more time denied, DK Shivakumar ‘left yatra & reached’ ED office
Shivakumar, who was in Mandya on Thursday for the Congress march, came to Delhi on Friday for questioning in the National Herald money laundering case.
Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar - who was seen walking alongside Rahul and Sonia Gandhi a day ago - said on Friday he had to "leave the Bharat Jodo yatra in the middle" to reach the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office after it scrapped his request of extending the date of his appearance before the agency.
Shivakumar, who was in Mandya on Thursday for the Congress march, came to Delhi on Friday for questioning in the National Herald money laundering case. “I requested them (ED) to call both me and my brother DK Suresh after October 23. But the concerned officer directed us to present before him nonetheless. So we left the (Bharat Jodo) yatra in the middle and reached here (the ED office in Delhi),” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
On Thursday, DK Shivakumar termed the ED’s denial of his request for more time ‘a political harassment’ and tweeted: “Their rejection is a clear sign that the timing of their summons is political harassment. They don’t like my participation in the Bharath Aikyata Yatre.”
The money laundering case was registered by the Enforcement Directorate, based on a complaint filed by the Income Tax (IT) department. The I-T department, during the initial probe, had allegedly found unaccounted and misreported wealth linked to the Congress leader.
DK Shivakumar has been calling the charges "baseless" and "politically motivated". Earlier, the ED had also summoned DK Shivakumar's wife and mother, which was later challenged in the Delhi High Court, ANI reported.
(With inputs from news agencies)
