The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against Karnataka Minister DK Shivakumar in connection with alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions, officials said.

The agency has booked Shivakumar, the Minister for Irrigation and Medical Education; Haumanthaiah, an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi; and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The case is based on a charge-sheet filed by the Income-Tax Department against Shivakumar early this year before a special court in Bengaluru, accusing the Minister of tax evasion and hawala transactions worth crores. The agency may soon summon the accused to record their statements.

The I-T Department had accused Shivakumar and his associate, SK Sharma, of transporting huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through ‘hawala’ channels with help of three other accused.

The other accused are Sachin Narayan, Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah and N Rajendra, it said.

According to the tax department, Narayan is Shivakumar’s business partner, and Sharma is the proprietor of Sharma Transports, which runs a fleet of luxury and passenger buses and also rents out vehicles to various concerns and individuals.

Haumanthaiah is an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, allegedly responsible for storing and handling unaccounted cash belonging to Shivakumar in Delhi, it had said in the complaint. Rajendra is a caretaker at Karnataka Bhavan and works for Sharma, besides looking after immovable properties of Shivakumar and Sharma, it said.

Unaccounted cash of approximately ₹20 crore was found and seized during raids in New Delhi and Bengaluru in August 2017 which were directly relatable to Shivakumar, it had said.

Shivakumar has alleged that the I-T department was targeting him but he would fight the case legally. A special court had given Shivakumar conditional bail in the case sometime ago. The next hearing is on September 20.

Responding to the development, Bengaluru Rural MP and Shivakumar’s brother, DK Suresh, said: “A case need not lead to an arrest immediately. We will take up the case legally. As we had said before, this is part of a campaign by BJP to which we will not succumb.”

Congress State President Dinesh Gundu Rao also defended Shivakumar. “BJP has been targeting DK Shivakumar for a long time by misusing Central agencies like Income-Tax department, the CBI, and now the ED. This case by ED was only a continuation and we express confidence that Shivakumar will come out be victorious in this legal battle.”

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