Tough times ahead for Karnataka's DK brothers as ED grills Suresh for money laundering

The meteoric rise in the wealth of Karnataka Congress's DK brothers has put them under the radar of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

While the elder brother and Congress strongman DK Shivakumar has been arrested on charges of money laundering, the ED has now targeted the Bengaluru Rural MP DK Suresh in connection with the case.

The investigating agency questioned Suresh for seven hours on Thursday, October 4, regarding the alleged hawala transactions to the Congress high command. During an earlier bail plea application of DK Shivakumar, the ED had told the court that Suresh owned 27 properties which need to be investigated.

The Bengaluru Rural MP has been directed to appear before the ED on Friday to further probe into the case. DK Shivakumar has been kept under judicial custody in Delhi's Tihar Jail for the past month. 

In his 2019 election affidavit, Suresh had declared assets worth Rs 338 crore while his 2014 affidavit was valued at Rs 85 crore. His wealth has grown increased nearly four-fold within a span of just five years.

Shivakumar was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on September 3 and will be under custody till October 15. The court has rejected his bail plea multiple times. Suresh had alleged that his brother is being grilled by the central agencies as he refused to join the saffron party.

Recently, the probing agency had also questioned Shivakumar's daughter Aisshwarya, 23, due to the drastic increase in her wealth which is reported to be Rs 108 crores. DKS said that his daughter was not dependent on his income and that he was declaring her assets as per the Representation of Peoples Act. Belagavi (Rural) MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar was also grilled by the ED questioned in connection with the case.

The ED and Income Tax Department has been hunting Shivakumar since demonetisation and in 2017, the IT department seized Rs 8.83 crore from his Delhi apartment.