On the eve of the protest rally by Vokkaliga organisations supporting former Minister D.K. Shivakumar, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has only widened the scope of its probe by issuing summons to his daughter to appear before them on Thursday.
The
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Aishwarya Shivakumar, 22, is an MBA graduate and an active trustee in educational institutes held by the family. She emerged as a person of interest in the case after the ED uncovered several questionable transactions in her name, which reportedly led the Income Tax (I-T) sleuths to a complex web of transactions linking V.G. Siddhartha of the Café Coffee Day as well. Sources said she will be questioned along with her father over these transactions and her statement will be recorded.
The ED also searched the New Delhi residence of Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah, a former government servant and a close associate of the Congress leader, on Tuesday. Officials suspect his role in transporting money on behalf of Mr. Shivakumar in New Delhi.
The I-T sleuths had conducted massive search and seizure operations in August 2017 when they recovered ₹8.5 crore cash from four premises linked to Mr. Shivakumar in New Delhi.
The agency identified other accused persons as businessmen Sachin Narayan and Sunil Kumar Sharma and two government servants then associated with the Karnataka Bhavan — Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah and N. Rajendra. The I-T officials alleged that an extensive network of conduits and premises in Delhi and Bengaluru had been set up for the hawala transaction and storage of cash. Sources said the ED was in the process of recording statements of all the four co-accused in the case.
Bail plea
Meanwhile, the ED custody of Mr. Shivakumar ends on Friday when his bail plea will also come up for hearing. Sources said the ED may seek his custody for a few more days as his questioning has not concluded yet.
However, sources close to the former Minister said that his advocates were confident that the court was unlikely to extend his custody.
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