BENGALURU: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar was on Wednesday questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the disproportionate assets (DA) case. According to sources, the Central agency reportedly questioned him on the said assets, worth nearly Rs 74.93 crore, which the agency has alleged are in his and his family members’ names, and are disproportionate to their known sources of income.
The check period for the financial assessment of the Congress leader and his family was between April 1, 2013, and April 30, 2018, when Shivakumar was Cabinet minister, the CBI had stated. The agency had registered a preliminary inquiry against Shivakumar and other individuals in March 2020.
Shivakumar was questioned for an hour at the CBI office in Bengaluru, and allowed to leave. In the evening, Shivakumar left for Ahmedabad to pay his last respects to late Congress MP Ahmed Patel, who passed away early Wednesday morning due to post-Covid complications.
The Central agency had, on November 19, summoned Shivakumar to appear on Monday. However, he was allowed to appear on Wednesday as he was away from Bengaluru on party work in North Karnataka.
On October 5, the CBI had conducted raids at 14 locations — nine in Karnataka, four in Delhi and one in Mumbai — which were reportedly linked to Shivakumar and his brother DK Suresh, and allegedly recovered around Rs 57 lakh cash during the searches.
Shivakumar is facing a slew of cases by the Income Tax (I-T) Department and Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in connection with the disproportionate assets. He was arrested on September 3, 2019, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and released on October 24. Before appearing for questioning at the CBI office, Shivakumar termed the probe against him as ‘political vendetta’. “I have not done anything wrong and will cooperate with the investigation,” he added.