Shivakumar appeals to supporters not to visit Delhi

Bengaluru, Sept 16: Arrested Congress leader DK Shivakumar has appealed to his supporters not to come to New Delhi to express solidarity with him, in the backdrop of a large number of them barging into a court there on Friday, when he was produced in connection with a money laundering case.

Conveying this in a press release, his brother D K Suresh said Shivakumar has asked his supporters not to come to Delhi on Tuesday when he is likely to be procuded in the Special Court dealing with cases relating to ED.

A Delhi court on Friday had extended the custodial interrogation of Shivakumar by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) by four days till September 17 in the case.

"I request all party workers, supporters and well wishers of Shri D K Shivakumar to not to come to New Delhi on Tuesday (17.09.2019).

This request is on behalf of my brother D K Shivakumar too," Suresh said in a press release.

He said, "We request everyone to be in their respective places in the state and arrival of more people in Delhi will cause inconvenience to the administration and judiciary."

"As law abiding citizen, its our responsibility to maintain smooth functioning of administrative and judicial systems.

Therefore we request and expect everyone's cooperation and support in this regard," he added.

Shivakumar, 57, sitting Congress MLA from Kanakapura assembly segment, is in the ED custody since his arrest on September 3.

On Friday, when Shivakumar was produced before the court on the expiry of his 9-day custodial interrogation by the agency, additional forces from Delhi police and CRPF were deployed inside and outside the courtroom to control the large number of supporters who had gathered.

But even the heavy deployment of security personnel could not stop the supporters from barging inside the courtroom.

Before being escorted out of the court on Friday, Shivakumar had reportedly asked his supporters present at the premises, to go back home.

The ED had in September last year registered the money laundering case against Shivakumar, Haumanthaiah, an employee at the Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, and others.

The ED had filed the PMLA case against him and others based on a charge sheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the Income Tax Department against them last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions worth crores.

Thousands of members of the dominant Vokkaliga community, in a show of strength had recently held a protest rally here against the arrest of one of their senior leader Shivakumar and expressed solidarity with him.

Some key Vokkaliga leaders also charged the NDA government of indulging in "vendetta politics" and "targeting" the community.