ED summons to DKShi's mother, wife: Delhi HC passes stay order

New Delhi/Bengaluru: The Delhi High Court has passed a stay order on the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against senior Congress leader DK Shivakumar’s mother Gowramma and wife 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 Tuesday, but she skipped it. Usha has been asked to come for questioning on Thursday. Their petitions are likely to come up for hearing on Wednesday.

Shivakumar, who was arrested on September 23, is presently lodged in Tihar jail in judicial custody, which has now been extended till October 25.

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.