HD Kumaraswamy on a 'personal visit' meets DK Shivakumar in Tihar jail

JD(U)'s HD Kumaraswamy met his party's former ally, DK Shivakumar in Tihar jail, where the Congress leader is lodged under judicial custody over money laundering case.  Addressing the media, the former chief minister of Karnataka stated that his visit was "personal." Further reiterating Congress' claims, said that Shivakumar was  facing "political vengeance."

Kumaraswamy said, "Political issues are different and personal equation is different. This is my personal visit. He is facing political vengeance, I was here to give confidence to him. He is mentally very strong and will fight all this."

On September 3, Kumaraswamy had tweeted in support of Shivakumar following his arrest by ED. He accused the government of playing “vindictive politics” and targeting the Opposition. He had even slammed the ED for denying Shivakumar's plea to be exempted from appearing before the ED in view of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

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Delhi court extends custody

A Delhi court on Tuesday extended till October 25 the judicial custody of Congress leader D K Shivakumar, arrested in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate. Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar sent Shivakumar to further judicial custody on the ED's plea after the accused did not oppose it. ED's special public prosecutors Amit Mahajan, Nitesh Rana, and N K Matta sought an extension of his judicial custody, saying he could not be let free. The court had on September 25 declined to grant Shivakumar bail noting that he was an influential person and if released, may influence the witnesses or tamper with documents

The ED had in September last year registered the money laundering case against Shivakumar, Haumanthaiah, an employee at the Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, and others, the agency's advocate A R Aditya said. The case was based on a charge sheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the Income Tax Department against them last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and 'hawala' transactions worth crores. The I-T department has accused Shivakumar and his alleged associate S K Sharma of transporting a huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through 'hawala' channels with the help of three other accused.

(With agencies inputs) 

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