After court turns down DK Shivakumar’s plea, ED serves new notice to him

Hours after the Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by Congress leader DK Shivakumar seeking that the court quash a summons issued by the Enforcement Director on Thursday, the ED served him a fresh summons to appear before it on Friday.

Justice Arvind Kumar, the Karnataka High Court judge, dismissed the petition and asked Shivakumar to appear before the ED for questioning, as per its summons in Rs 7-crore money laundering case.

Shivakumar told reporters, “I respect the court’s verdict. I will pursue whatever legal options are available before me and I am ready to face any inquiry. I have done nothing wrong and I still believe in the judiciary.”

Shivakumar said there were many issues and the ED was free to do whatever it wanted. “Let them call me and I will have my say. I cannot comment further till such time,” he said. “We have said that this is not a case for the ED, it is for the Income Tax Department,” he said.

The case against former irrigation minister Shivakumar, who is known as the Congress’s trouble shooter in the state, was filed last September, and pertains to the alleged seizure of cash at his residence in New Delhi by the Income Tax Department during a raid in August 2017.

Raids were also conducted at his properties in Karnataka at the time and he is facing cases relating to those as well.

The raids had come even as legislators from Gujarat were hosted by Shivakumar at a resort on the outskirts of the city ahead of a crucial Rajya Sabha poll in Gujarat.