CBI raids: D K Shivakumar & brother hunted for political vendetta?

Bengaluru, 03 Jun 2018 [Fik/News Sources]: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids on former energy minister D K Shivakumar and his brother, Bengaluru Rural and Lok Sabha member D K Suresh, have raised a new storm.

While the investigating agencies allege that the brothers were involved in money laundering, the brothers claim that the union government is misusing the investigative agencies for political vendetta.

The CBI has so far claimed that it has been pursuing the case since 2017 when the racket was exposed. It is gathered that evidence is mounting against Shivakumar and Suresh in connection with the money exchange racket during the 2016 demonetisation. The CBI obtained search warrants from a local court against Shivakumar, Suresh and 11 others, including their associates and some family members.

The residences of Padmanabhaiah, who is allegedly linked to Suresh in Bangalore Rural, Deputy Tahsildar Shivananda, in-charge of electoral cards in SDM office in Kanakapura and election cell office in Tahsildar’s office Nanjappa were searched. According to an official release issued by the CBI, the searches were being conducted at five places in Bengaluru, Kanakapura and Ramanagara.

It may be recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination notes on November 8, 2016. The next day on November 9, banks remained closed.

It is alleged that duplicate voter ID cards were used to exchange the black money. Between November 10 and November 11, 2016, around 120 duplicate voter IDs were fraudulently issued from the Tahsildar's office without any requests from the voters. Supposedly, these voter IDs were used to exchange demonetised notes worth Rs 10 Lakh at the local cooperative bank by Padmanabhaiah. “Padmanabaiah had allegedly exchanged the Specified Bank Notes (SBN) in the bank”, said the CBI press release.

Sources claimed that the CBI had received a confession from a cooperative bank manager in Kanakapura in the Ramanagara district, during the investigation. The bank manager confessed to have converted the demonetised notes at the behest of Suresh. Interestingly, D K Shivakumar is the MLA from Kanakapura. As evidence mounts, the accused may be arrested by the CBI very soon.

What complicates the matter, is the timing of the raids and the patchy record of the CBI. The central investigative agency has been criticised, time and again, for acting as a handmaiden of the union government.

The Congress leaders Shivakumar and Suresh, called a press meet on the heels of the arrest warrants being issued on May 30. They accused the BJP of misusing central investigative agencies against them to lure them into switching sides to the BJP. "The BJP is making every effort to lure us towards them", said Suresh.

It is a fairly open secret that D K Shivakumar was instrumental in preventing the BJP from trading Congress MLAs after the poll results were announced. It may be recalled that BJP's B S Yeddyurappa had even called D K Shivakumar as a "villain" on the floor of the Vidhana Sabha.

In this context, Suresh alleged that they have been targetted as revenge for the BJP's failed attempt to come to power in Karnataka. The brothers also claim that they have done no wrong and they remain loyal Congressmen.