Vijayapura (Karnataka) [India]: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday confirmed that he and his brother, MP DK Suresh, had donated Rs 25 lakh to the National Herald, a newspaper affiliated with the Indian National Congress, asserting that the contribution was legitimate and transparent.
“I donated Rs 25 lakh to the National Herald. It is a newspaper run by our party. My brother and I have given money to the publication. We have also given donations from our trust. We have given our hard-earned money; there is nothing to conceal,” Shivakumar said while addressing reporters.
His remarks come in the backdrop of ongoing investigations by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into alleged financial irregularities involving the National Herald. The probe implicates senior Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.
The issue gained fresh traction after the ED filed a chargesheet that named DK Suresh and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, triggering a political storm.
In response, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao (KTR) launched a scathing attack on the Congress, alleging that Telangana had been reduced to an “ATM for Scamgress.”
Taking to social media platform X, KTR shared screenshots of media reports on the case and wrote:
“Telangana has become an ATM for Scamgress and it’s been now corroborated by agencies. As the ED charge sheets Telangana ‘Bag Man’ in National Herald case, he is trying his best to distract people’s attention from his corrupt practices. The million-dollar question is whether the NDA Govt will act this time or pardon Revanth Reddy as they’ve done in the case of the Amrut Scam, RR Tax, and Civil Supplies scam.”
Meanwhile, in Delhi, the Rouse Avenue Court on Wednesday began hearing the ED’s arguments regarding the cognisance of the money laundering case tied to the National Herald.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the ED, asserted in his opening remarks that a clear offence of money laundering was evident. He argued that there were proceeds of crime and continuing criminal activities associated with the case.
The Special Court, presided over by Judge Vishal Gogne, has scheduled day-to-day hearings from July 2 to July 8 to assess the ED’s prosecution complaint. Defence counsel requested the July timeline due to the submission of over 5,000 pages of documentation.