The Delhi High Court has adjourned the plea by Congress leader DK Shivakumar’s wife and mother challenging the Enforcement Directorate summons issued against them in connection with a money-laundering case. The  cout will hear the matter on November 4.

This was after the wife and mother of the Congress leader informed the court that they had not received the fresh summons that the ED was said to have sent them.  The ED had on Monday told the  court that it will issue fresh summons to  the two ladies. The ED’s counsel had informed the  court that the earlier summons issued to Shivakumar’s wife Usha and mother Gowaramma, 85, are not in existence and fresh summons will be issued as the investigation  are still on.

The court was hearing separate pleas by the two women challenging the summons issued to them by the ED in the money laundering case.The ED had summoned Gowramma, THE Congress leader’s mother  and Usha, his wife,  to appear before it on October 15 and 17 respectively. Gowramma had skipped it.

Shivakumar, a seven-time MLA in Karnataka, was arrested by the ED on September 3 under the PMLA and as lodged in Tihar jail until he got bail. Hed went back to Bangalore to a rousing reception from his followers. .

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

The I-T department has accused Shivakumar and his alleged associate S K Sharma of indulging in transactions involving huge amounts of unaccounted money on a regular basis through ‘hawala’ channels with the help of three other accused.

–India Legal Bureau