Soon after DK Shivakumar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) late on Tuesday, 3 September, the Congress leader took to Twitter to dub the cases against him as "politically motivated", as he slammed the BJP saying, "I congratulate my BJP friends for finally being successful in their mission of arresting me."
Shivakumar was arrested by the ED in connection with a money laundering case.
Sources told The Quint that he is likely to remain in Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital after he complained of ill health.
After his arrest, supporters of the Congress leader gathered outside the ED office in Delhi in large numbers.
One of them even broke into tears and tore off his clothes outside the RML hospital. The Karnataka Congress has now called for a statewide protest on Wednesday.
Shivakumar’s supporters also staged protests in Kanakapura, in the outskirts of Bangalore, where he is a sitting MLA.
The former cabinet minister had appeared before the agency for the fourth time for questioning on Tuesday.
The Congress leader needs to be put through custodial interrogation and hence he was arrested, officials cited by PTI said.
Shivakumar will be produced before a court in Delhi on Wednesday by the Enforcement Directorate for seeking his custody.
The ED had, in September last year, registered the money laundering case against Shivakumar and others based on a charge sheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the Income Tax Department in a court in Bengaluru, for alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions worth crores.
‘Vendetta Politics’
Congress leaders in Karnataka have also cried foul saying their Shivakumar is a victim of vendetta politics, a charge rejected by BJP leaders.
All India Congress Committee General Secretary KC Venugopal in a statement called the arrest “a clear case of political vendetta by the fascist BJP government at the centre.”
“It is evident that the government is desperately trying to hide its outright failure in checking the economic slowdown and financial crisis with shameless harassment of political opponents,” he added.
Former Karnataka chief ministers Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy also took to Twitter to condemn Shivakumar’s arrest.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)