DKShi, kin to leave for New Delhi today

Bengaluru: Former minister DK Shivakumar along with his mother and wife will be leaving to New Delhi on Tuesday as they have to appear before Delhi High Court on October 30 to hear a petition filed by Gowramma and Usha.

Gowramma and Usha had approached Delhi High Court seeking quashing of the summons issued to them by the ED in connection with the money laundering case against the former minister.

Gowramma was issued summons to appear before the ED on October 15, but she skipped it. Usha has been asked to come for questioning on October 17.

The ED had alleged that Shivakumar, his family members and associates have maintained more than 317 bank accounts in 20 banks and made high-value transactions.

It has so far interrogated 11 persons in this case, including Shivakumar’s daughter Aishwarya, Belagavi Rural MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar and Apex Bank chairman K N Rajanna.

The ED had, in September last year, registered the money-laundering case against Shivakumar, Haumanthaiah, an employee at the Karnataka Bhavan here, and others.

The case was based on a charge sheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the Income-Tax department against them before a special court in Bengaluru last year, alleging tax evasion and “hawala” transactions worth crores of rupees.

The I-T department has accused Shivakumar and his alleged associate S K Sharma of indulging in transactions involving huge amounts of unaccounted money on a regular basis through “hawala” channels with the help of three other accused.