ED files chargesheet against Karnataka Congress chief Shivakumar

New Delhi, May 26

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet under the anti-money-laundering law against Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar and others, officials said on Thursday.

The prosecution complaint has been filed under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before a Delhi court, they said.

The federal probe agency had in September 2018 registered a money-laundering case against Shivakumar, A Haumanthaiah, an employee at the Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, and others.

The case was based on an Income Tax Department chargesheet filed against Shivakumar and others before a court in Bengaluru for alleged tax evasion and hawala dealings.

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

Shivakumar, 60, was arrested by the ED in this case in 2019, and a number of people and associates, including his daughter Aishwarya and Congress MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar, were questioned by the agency.

The Congress leader, a former cabinet minister of Karnataka, is out on bail in the money-laundering case.