44% rise in Shivakumar assets, to Rs 1,214 crore, a large chunk tied to a mall

As per the affidavit, the land for the mall was acquired in 2004 when Shivakumar was a minister in S M Krishna’s Congress government (1999-2004). Real estate company Shobha Developers delivered part of the property in 2019 and then in 2020. At the time of the purchase, the property was valued at Rs 117 crore.

Shivakumar owns 6.15 lakh square feet of the property or about 90% of it. The 5.27 square feet in the basement portion of the mall is jointly held by the Kanakapura MLA and his Lok Sabha MP brother D K Suresh.

Shivakumar, who is facing cases of disproportionate assets, money laundering and income tax violations, has interests in multiple businesses, including real estate, education, and quarrying. As per the election affidavit, he has pending income tax dues of Rs 227 crore.

Apart from the wealth linked to Global Malls, the Congress leader has also reported obtaining a loan of Rs 147 crore from HDFC Bank against rent from Lulu International Malls Ltd.

The KPCC chief owns as many as eight apartments at Purva MidTown valued at over Rs 8 crore. He owns four flats in Salarpuria Sattva, amounting to Rs 3.20 crore. In Delhi, he has three properties valued at Rs 5.25 crore. He has reported Rs 14.67 crore in his bank accounts.

The Congress leader has reported owning nearly 86 acres of land around Bengaluru by way of inheritance from his family. He has shown payment of Rs 73 crore as loans and advances to his family members.

Shivakumar’s wealth has surged since 2013. In the five-year period between 2013 and 2018, Shivakumar had reported a massive Rs 589 crore increase in his wealth (a rise of over 250%). He was a Congress minister in this five-year period.

In 2017, Shivakumar was the subject of an investigation by Income Tax officials, with Shivakumar and his associates accused of IT evasion of over Rs 300 crore.

After investigations with regard to alleged laundering of Rs 8 crore by Shivakumar and associates, the ED said the Congress leader “while holding a public office in the Government of Karnataka… generated a huge amount of unaccounted cash”.

Based on the findings of income-tax department searches carried out in August 2017 at around 70 premises linked to Shivakumar, the CBI filed an FIR in October 2020 against him.

Shivakumar was arrested by the ED in September 2019 in connection with the money laundering case and released on bail in October 2019. He became the KPCC chief in 2020.

The cases against him are ongoing.