DK Shivakumar arrested in money laundering case, calls it 'politically motivated'

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested Congress leader D K Shivakumar in connection with an alleged money laundering case.

"I congratulate my BJP friends for finally being successful in their mission of arresting me. The I-T and ED cases against me are politically motivated and I am a victim of BJP's politics of vengeance and vendetta," he stated in a tweet, posted minutes after his arrest.

In another tweet, he claims to have done nothing "illegal" and said that he will emerge victorious both legally and politically.

The agency had started its probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in September 2018 on the basis of a report submitted by the Income Tax department against Shivakumar.

The I-T department had conducted raids on Shivakumar in August 2017.

According to the sources, the agency, during the initial probe, found unaccounted and misreported wealth linked to Shivkumar.

It also came across money laundering and hawala operations, involving a network of persons across Delhi and Bengaluru. They had set up a base in order to transport and utilise the unaccounted cash, the sources said.

Earlier this year, the ED had issued its first summon to Shivakumar on 17th January and second on 15th February.

On these two dates, the Congress leader did not appear before the agency.

He, instead, approached a court challenging the summons issued to him and sought relief.

On August 29, the Karnataka High Court dismissed his petition challenging the summons issued by the ED.

Later that night, he was summoned by the agency and was asked to appear before it on August 30, following which he was interrogated for four days.