Karnataka's former Congress minister D.K. Shivakumar on Friday moved an application in the state High Court for interim protection from arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged involvement in 'hawala' (illegal) transactions, a party official said. "Shivkumar's counsel B.V. Acharya has filed a writ petition in the High Court for an urgent hearing on granting interim protection to him from arrest by the ED in the alleged money laundering case," party spokesman Ravi Gowda told IANS.

Shivakumar, 57, moved the High Court after the ED summoned him to appear before its investigation team in New Delhi on Friday afternoon in connection with the case filed against him in 2018 for the alleged violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. Shivakumar tweeted earlier in the day that the ED had sent him summons on Thursday night after the High Court rejected his petition for quashing its December 2018 order to appear before its investigation team for probing the illegal transactions.