The CBI conducted raids at the residences of Congress troubleshooter and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar, and his brother D.K. Suresh, who is a Member of Parliament, on Monday.
Armed with a search warrant granted by the court, 14 teams, comprising over 300 sleuths were sent out by the central investigating agency to 14 locations, including Bengaluru, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Doddahalahalli, the native place of Shivakumar. The multiple raids concluded by 6.30 pm with the CBI issuing an official statement.
“The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against former minister of Karnataka government (presently MLA) on the allegations of the possession of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs74.93 crore in his name and in the name of his family members,” the agency said in its statement.
“It may be recalled that Government of Karnataka has issued a Notification u/s 6 of DSPE Act and it was followed by a Notification u/s 5 of DSPE Act issued by Government of India after which CBI had initially registered a Preliminary Enquiry during March, 2020 against the said MLA and others in the matter,” the official statement read further.
“Searches were conducted today at 14 locations including Karnataka, Delhi, Mumbai at the premises of said MLA and others which led to recovery of cash of Rs.57 lakh and several incriminating documents including property documents, bank related information, computer hard disk, etc. Investigation continues,” the CBI release elaborated.
Shivakumar had come under the scanner in 2017 when the IT department conducted raids in 71 locations, which resulted in a cash haul of Rs 8.5 crore, following which the ED was entrusted to investigate the case of money laundering by the Congress leader. After 14 months of investigation, Shivakumar had been called by the ED to Delhi for further questioning, which had been followed by his arrest. After spending 75 days in Tihar Jail, Shivakumar had been released after the court granted him bail. This fresh case against Shivakumar comes in the wake of certain credible information shared by the ED with the CBI, which prompted the agency to seek sanction for prosecution, which was granted by the state government.
Addressing the media after the conclusion of the raids, Shivakumar, accompanied by D.K. Suresh, said that the raids were politically motivated and that he has not done anything wrong. “I am a born agriculturist. By profession, I am a businessman, an educationist by virtue and, by passion, I am a politician. The DA case foisted against me won’t stand as the value of the properties purchased way back has grown exponentially. I will give an account of how my wealth grew. All that they have recovered today is a few lakhs in my house and home office. I am not aware of the Rs 57 lakh that the CBI has mentioned. I will give a fitting reply in due time,” he said.
Joining the criticism, Opposition leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah took to Twitter and attacked the BJP, alleging the misuse of central agencies. “BJP has always tried to indulge in vindictive politics and mislead public attention. The latest CBI raid on DKS’s house is another attempt to derail our preparation for bypolls. I strongly condemn this,” he tweeted.
Defending the raids, Dr K. Sudhakar, a minister in the B.S. Yediyurappa cabinet, rubbished the claims of vindictive politics and said that it was an opportunity for D.K. Shivakumar to come clean. “The CBI and ED are autonomous agencies and are doing their duty. Instead of crying foul and misguiding people, we must let the agencies do their job honestly and transparently. D.K. Shivakumar has recently made a statement that he has not been involved in corruption. If that is the case, then there is no need to get scared about the investigation. Shivakumar will come clean if he is as honest as he claims and the truth will come out after the fair probe,” the minister said.
Taking a dig at the Congress’s claim about the raids being politically motivated, Sudhakar recalled how Home Minister Amit Shah had been barred from entering Gujarat for two years during the UPA government’s tenure. “CBI raids have been conducted on various political opponents, including the present Andhra Pradesh CM Jaganmohan Reddy during UPA tenure. Were these raids also the result of political vendetta,” the minister questioned.
Responding to the claim that the raid has been conducted in the light of the upcoming bypolls, Dr Sudhakar said that the two events are irrelevant. “Our government has been formed with the absolute majority of 117 seats and BJP doesn’t believe in vendetta politics. Bypoll results will not have any impact on the government and hence one cannot correlate the raid to the elections,” he said.