There has been a stunning twist to the ‘dirty cash scandal’ involving senior Karnataka Congress leader and Water Resources and Medical Education Minister DK Shivakumar. The Income Tax Department has filed a complaint before the Special Court for Economic Offences, Bengaluru, in which the minister has been accused of creating and operating a hawala network. Shivakumar has also been accused of buying a flat in Delhi to store unaccounted for cash.

However, the most shocking part in the I-T Department complaint is that Shivakumar sent some of the cash to the All India Congress Committee headquarters in the national capital. The submission in the court confirms that Congress-cash link and the trail leads right up to the party top brass.

Times Now reported that almost Rs 20 crores were seized from Shivakumar and aides in raids carried out by the I-T Department last August in Bengaluru and Delhi. Rs 6.68 crores were seized from a flat at Safdarjung Enclave in New Delhi, as per the complaint filed before the court, The New Indian Express reported.

Details available with Times Now show cash payments were made to the AICC by Shivakumar and Sunil Kumar Sharma. These cash payments were personally delivered by one V Mulgund.

As per the complaint, Rs 3 crore were personally delivered by Mulgund to AICC office on January 1, 2017. On January 9, another Rs 2 crore were delivered.

As per the complaint copy accessed by Times Now, five accused have been named: DK Shivakumar, Sachin Narayan, Sunil Kumar Sharma (owner of Sharma Travels), Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah (a state government employee at Karnataka Bhavan in Delhi), and Rajendra (ex-state government employee and presently working for Sharma).

“Shivakumar set up an exclusive network of persons and premises across Delhi and Bengaluru in order to transport and utilise unaccounted cash. It is pertinent to note that unaccounted cash of Rs 8.5 crores has been found and seized in four premises of Delhi which are directly relatable to DKS. Three flats were purchased in Safdarjung Enclave. Among these flats, Flat No.107, B-2, purchased by DKS, and Flat No.17, B-4, was purchased by Sachin Narayan (Accused No.2) and Flat No.201, B-5, was purchased by late Suresh Sharma,” the Deputy Director of Income-Tax (Investigation), Income Tax Department, stated in the complaint, as per The New Indian Express.