It seems luck does not favour the Congress troubleshooter of Karnataka anymore as the High Court has rejected the petition filed by DK Shivakumar and four others, challenging the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The petition was rejected by a single judge bench of Justice Aravind Kumar, who observed that the petitioners, including Shivakumar, Sachin Narayana, Sunil Kumar Sharma, Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah and Rajendra, cannot claim an exemption under Article 226 of the Constitution as the investigation agencies have irrefutable evidence against them.
The Karnataka HC has also rejected interim protection for DK Shivakumar. His lawyers approached the court on Friday morning to prevent his arrest and requested another date to appear before the ED.
According to reports, DKS is likely to appeal against the verdict in the Supreme Court on Friday. Speculations are rife that the Congress strongman and others will be arrested by the investigating agencies. He has warned the state Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa for playing vendetta politics and said he will stage a mass protest if BSY doesn't stop targeting Congress leaders.
In a raid conducted at Shivakumar's Delhi and Bengaluru properties in August 2017, income tax officials had seized unaccounted Rs 8.59 crore in cash. The ED had issued a summon regarding the seizure.
The ED had issued summons to DKS on December 2018 in a money laundering case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (2002). After the HC dismissed their plea, ED has asked Shivakumar to appear before them on Friday (August 30).
However, Shivakumar has refuted his involvement in any illegal activities and said that the IT raids were politically motivated and called it an attempt at character assassination. He said that the IT department used CRPF to conduct raids on his and his relatives' properties when the Gujrat MLAs were taking refuge in Karnataka.
"Have received a summons from ED late yesterday night at 9.4 0 pm asking for me to appear at 1 pm in Delhi today. Although the sudden scheduling by ED is malafide. I believe in rule of law and will definitely participate and fully co-operate with them and abide by the law of our country," he tweeted.
