New Delhi, Sept. 4 (UNI& Agencies)- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) last night arrested Congress leader and its Karnataka trouble-shooter D.K. Shivakumar in connection with a case of money-laundering after repeated questioning over the past few days.

The former Cabinet Minister and Kanakapura MLA appeared before the Central probe agency for questioning for the fourth time yesterday at its headquarters in New Delhi’s Khan Market. After a long session of interrogation, Shivakumar was placed under arrest as per provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Shivakumar would be produced before a Court today at 3 pm where the ED will seek his custody. Soon after his arrest, tweets put out from Shivakumar’s official handle described the cases against him as “politically motivated.”

Shivakumar’s supporters, who had gathered outside the ED office, raised slogans and tried to prevent probe officials from taking him for a procedural medical check-up after his arrest. Condemning the move, the Congress described the arrest as “high-handed tactics and vendetta politics” being deployed against its leaders.

Denies wrongdoing

Shivakumar had denied any wrongdoing and had said that for playing an “instrumental role” in ensuring the safe stay of Gujarat Congress MLAs in a Karnataka resort during the Rajya Sabha polls in 2017, amid allegations that the BJP was trying to poach them, I-T searches were conducted and the ED subsequently took action against him.

When Sonia Gandhi’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel fought the Rajya Sabha election from Gujarat in 2017, Shivakumar had hosted 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs at the resort to keep the flock together.

ED had in September last year registered a money-laundering case against Shivakumar and his four associates — Sachin Narayan (business associate), Sunil Kumar Sharma (proprietor of Sharma Transport), Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah (employee at Karnataka Bhavan, New Delhi) and N. Rajendran (a former State Government employee).

The ED case has been filed based on a charge-sheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the Income Tax Department against him last year before a Special Court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions worth crores of rupees.

The I-T Department has accused Shivakumar and his associate Sunil Kumar Sharma of transporting huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through hawala channels with the help of three other accused.