Karnataka Congress president D.K. Shivakumar on Friday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in connection with the National Herald case.
Mr. Shivakumar had to leave the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra midway in Karnataka to join the probe related to the financial contributions made to the Young Indian Private Limited, in which Congress president Sonia Gandhi and MP Rahul Gandhi had 38% shares each. The agency had summoned him along with his brother, MP D.K. Suresh.
The Karnataka Congress chief had requested the ED for rescheduling the date of his appearance after October 23. However, through an email, the agency official concerned sought his presence on Friday as mentioned in the summons sent on September 23.
On Thursday, statements of two Congress leaders, J. Geetha Reddy and Gali Anil Kumar, from Telangana were recorded by the ED that sought clarifications on the donations made through an entity associated with the National Herald newspaper. A few days ago, former State minister Shabbir Ali was also quizzed in the same matter.
On October 10, former State minister P. Sudarshan Reddy and former MP Anjan Kumar Yadav may also appear before the agency.
Earlier, the ED had recorded the statements of the Congress president and Mr. Gandhi. The agency is probing the allegation that Young Indian had paid only ₹50 lakh to take over the rights to recover a ₹90.25-crore loan that the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) owed to the Congress. The AJL runs the National Herald newspaper.
