The Enforcement Directorate has summoned 51 people, including the wife and mother of Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar, in connection with the money-laundering case against him.
“We have issued summonses to them for recording their statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Some of them are Mr. Shivakumar’s relatives and some were involved in laundering,” said a senior ED official. Among those to be questioned are also alleged hawala operators through whom huge sums of cash were transported from one place to the other, he said.
Questioned earlier
The agency earlier questioned Mr. Shivakumar’s brother D.K. Suresh and his daughter Aishwarya. While opposing the Congress leader’s bail, the ED had submitted before a special court that 54 individuals were under the scanner for operating 317 bank accounts, whose finance transactions were being scrutinised.
The ED probe is based on a charge sheet filed by the Income Tax Department last year, leaving tax evasion and hawala transactions involving Mr. Shivakumar and his associates. Mr. Shivakumar, who was arrested by the ED in September, is currently in judicial custody.
The summons come as Mr. Shivakumar remains in jail for over a month after being arrested by the financial probe agency on September 3 in the case. An I-T search at his New Delhi apartment in August 2017 had led to the seizure of unaccounted cash of about ₹9 crore, leading to filing of cases and further investigations.
Additional report
Meanwhile, the High Court of Delhi will on Tuesday hear the bail plea of Mr. Shivakumar in the money-laundering case. The case, which was scheduled to be heard on Monday, was rescheduled for Tuesday after counsel for ED said it has filed a status report on Mr. Shivakumar’s plea and an additional status report will be filed during the day.
Mr. Shivakumar approached the High Court challenging a trial court’s order denying him bail.
