Air India Disinvestment against DK Shivakumar in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet against the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar and others in a money laundering case on Thursday.

The chargesheet has been filed in the Rouse Avenue Court of Delhi before Special Judge Vikas Dhull.

The ED had arrested him on September 3, 2019, in the said case, but the Delhi High Court granted him bail in October 2019.

DK Shivakumar is presently on bail in the case of money laundering registered by the ED on the basis of a complaint filed by the Income Tax (IT) department.

During the initial probe, the IT department had found allegedly unaccounted and misreported wealth linked to the Congress leader.

However, Shivakumar had earlier called the charges "baseless" and "politically motivated".

The ED had also summoned the Congress leader's wife and mother to appear before it, which was later challenged in the Delhi High Court. According to the sources, the ED has not mentioned the names of Shivakumar's wife and mother in the chargesheet.

The department in 2017 had recovered a total amount of Rs 10 crore, including Rs 2.5 crore from his Bengaluru property.

On August 3, 2017, the I-T conducted raids at Shivakumar's residence and at the Eagleton Golf resort where 44 Congress Gujarat MLAs were staying. Back then, Shivakumar was in-charge of hospitality for all Congress Gujarat MLAs staying in Bengaluru.