Bengaluru: A petition was filed yesterday before the Director, Enforcement Directorate (ED), New Delhi and Joint Director, Bengaluru by Guruprasad, a resident of Bidadi in Ramanagaram district, seeking investigation into the alleged money laundering by Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar (DKS) and his associates.

Guruprasad has named five associates of Shivakumar – his astrologer Dwarkanath, who was also raided by the I-T department, Shivakumar’s private Secretary Sridhar, G.V. Balaram, the MD of Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd., Sachin Narayan a businessman and Puttaswamy Gowda, an electrical contractor.

The complainant, who claims to be a whistleblower, alleged that almost every person in Shivakumar’s constituency had been asked to facilitate exchange of demonetised notes worth Rs. 2,000 crore and Narayan helped facilitate this too.

The complaint alleges that Shivakumar’s astrologer is also a key hawala operator and helped in money-laundering. Besides, he has named two retired judges of the Karnataka High Court of colluding with the astrologer to land a ‘deal’ on cases.

However, the complainant has not given any documentary evidence.

The complainant also accuses the Minister’s associates of a major solar scam in the land acquisition and execution of the Solar Park project in Pavagada.

The complainant claims that Shivakumar had visited the IT Department in disguise to find out what was happening with regard to complaints against him, and a probe against him for possible offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

He claims black money has been sent to Dubai through hawala channels and these deserve a thorough investigation.