Shivakumar says as loyal Congress man he preferred jail to BJP's offer in 2019
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has said that he preferred to go to jail by refusing to destabilise the Congress-JD(S) coalition government and declining to take up the Deputy CM post offered by the central BJP, during the 2019 political instability in the state.
He said this on Wednesday while speaking at the launch of a book on him -- "A Symbol of Loyalty D K Shivakumar "-- written by K M Raghu.
BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka termed Shivkumar's claims, as his message to Congress high command and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, ahead of "November revolution", indicating that he has other choices if there is no transfer of power, making him CM.
There have been speculations about the CM change in the state when the Congress government reaches the halfway mark of its five-year term in November, which is being referred to by some as "November revolution".
"I was in Kanakapura, my friends here know, I came running as ten people (MLAs) had gone to the Speaker to submit their resignation (in 2019). I brought back five to six MLAs. At that time, I got a call from Delhi. I won't tell now, the name of the person from the BJP who called me on an income tax auditor's phone. My brother (former MP D K Suresh) was also with me," Shivakumar said.
Addressing the gathering, he said, "There was a DG here, he too spoke, he was on another phone. I was asked from Delhi, whether you will become the Deputy CM or will you go to jail -- (Asked to) choose from these two options, and to send them (MLAs) back."
Stating that he refused to cooperate, Shivakumar said, "What to do? Party loyalty was there, as at a very young age, Rajiv Gandhi (former PM) gave me an Assembly ticket, made me a minister, with (former CM) Bangarappa's cooperation. I have grown so far."
"I told (BJP leader on call) -- I prefer jail to becoming a Deputy Chief Minister. I could have become (Deputy CM) then. Don't know what would have happened in politics. But, I stood by my party, its workers, ideology, the path in which I grew, and secular principle," he added.
However, the Congress-JD(S) wobbly government, with H D Kumaraswamy as chief minister, subsequently collapsed in July, 2019, as 17 legislators resigned and came out of the ruling coalition. It paved the way for the BJP to come to power.
Shivakumar was arrested by the ED on September 3, 2019, in a money-laundering case, and the Delhi High Court granted him bail in October that year.
Reacting to Shivakumar's statement, Ashoka, while speaking to reporters here said, "D K Shivakumar doesn't do anything without a meaning. He is sending a message to Siddaramaiah and Congress leadership that he has other choices if power is not given to him. He is also sending a message about his loyalty to Congress," he said.
"He (Shivakumar) is trying to threaten Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Siddaramaiah. If his claims are true, he should reveal facts as to who called him, at what time, from which phone number and for what?" he added.
"Shivakumar had gone to jail in a corruption case. It has nothing to do with what he is claiming. If he is saying it now, he is sending a message; this is a threat to Congress party and its leadership," he claimed.
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Rs 640 crore cyber fraud: SC refuses anticipatory bail to CA in ED case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to grant anticipatory bail to a chartered accountant in a money laundering investigation linked to a Rs 640 crore cyber fraud case.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Augustine George Masih upheld the order of the Delhi High Court which had denied pre-arrest bail to Bhaskar Yadav and directed him to surrender in 10 days.
The high court on February 2 dismissed anticipatory bail applications by Yadav and Ashok Kumar Sharma.
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In the 22-page judgement, the high court had said there was an "intricate mesh of laundering of money", and the need expressed by the Enforcement Directorate to interrogate the two accused in custody was not unreasonable.
"The accused/applicants, being skilled professionals, have allegedly crafted laundering of proceeds of crime across multiple layers, and to unearth the same, I find substance in the submission of learned counsel for DoE (Directorate of Enforcement) that custodial interrogation is much required," the HC said.
"It is not a case of mere dealing in cryptocurrency, which per se is not a crime in this country and the liability of the accused persons is confined to paying tax on the crypto transactions. The present cases exhibit a vast intricate mesh of movement of money, fraudulently extracted out of pocket of gullible investors, who appear to be primarily belonging to middle class," it had added.
The high court had stated that individual liberty was sacrosanct, but it could not brush aside the requirement to carry out a meaningful interrogation and investigation in the larger interest of the country's economy.
It had noted there were fresh complaints of the accused allegedly assaulting the investigating officers, bribing the local police to settle cyber fraud complaints and destroying electronic evidence.
The money laundering probe stems from two FIRs filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police that were registered to probe charges of cyber fraud to the tune of Rs 640 crore generated through betting, gambling, part-time jobs and phishing scams, the ED has earlier said in a statement.
As per the agency, the money of gullible people was siphoned off by layering funds cheated from them through more than 5,000 mule Indian bank accounts and subsequently uploaded on PYYPL, a UAE-based payment platform.
Part of the cyber fraud money was withdrawn in cash in Dubai through debit and credit cards issued by various Indian banks, it said.
According to the probe agency, the alleged scam was being run through a nexus of certain CAs, company secretaries and crypto traders who worked in tandem to launder the proceeds of crime.
