Shivakumar slams ED arrest of Congress MLA, calls it 'politically motivated'
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday said there was "no situation" for the Enforcement Directorate to arrest Congress MLA Satish Sail, alleging that his party leaders are "being selectively targeted for political reasons."
The ED arrested Sail in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal iron ore exports in the state.
"There was no situation for arresting Satish Sail. Things have been going on (in this case) since 2010. For politics, Congress people are being selectively targeted," Shivakumar told reporters here.
Sail, 59, the MLA from Karwar in Uttara Kannada district, was taken into custody late Tuesday night after questioning at the ED’s Bengaluru zonal office, according to official sources.
He is the second Karnataka Congress legislator to be arrested by the central agency in recent weeks. Last month, the ED arrested Chitradurga MLA K C Veerendra ‘Puppy’ in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal betting.
The case against Sail pertains to the alleged illegal export of iron ore by a company reportedly linked to him.
The ED probe stems from a 2010 Karnataka Lokayukta case, which found about eight lakh tonnes of iron ore illegally transported from Bellary to Belekeri port.
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Karnataka HC quashes BJP's defamation case against Rahul Gandhi
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday quashed the defamation proceedings initiated by the BJP against top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The case was filed in 2023, when BJP was in power in Karnataka, following a "corruption rate card" published by the then opposition Congress to claim large scale irregularities prevailing in the state under the saffron party's rule.
Along with Gandhi, now Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, the BJP had accused the then Karnataka LoP Siddaramaiah and Congress state president D K Shivakumar.
Presently Siddaramaiah is the Chief Minister and Shivakumar is his deputy.
Challenging the defamation case, Gandhi had approached the High Court stating that the continuation of the case would be an abuse of law.
The bench of Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav allowed the petition.
The complainant said that Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had conspired together to defame the BJP government and made baseless allegation and insinuation.
