Veerappa Moily said DK Shivakumar has always cooperated in the investigation

Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily on Wednesday defended DK Shivakumar, who was arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged money laundering case saying he has been "persecuted actually, not prosecuted".

He said that Mr Shivakumar has always cooperated in the investigation.

"Declaring that he is not cooperating and that is why we are arresting is absolutely false and without any ground. That reflects the political attitude of the present government in the Centre. In a similar manner, they treated P Chidambaram," Mr Moily told ANI.

"I think this seems to be the trend because ultimately you can't treat everybody as criminal... It's most unfortunate that DK Shivakumar has been persecuted actually, not prosecuted. They wanted to arrest him. Immediately when he was called, he responded. He really submitted to their jurisdiction for interrogation," he added.

He said that officials "cannot expect an answer which they want."

"He (Shivakumar) will tell the truth and they have to go by that. It is another instance of political vengeance against the political rivals because he was very active here in the Congress party. In any activity, he was vocal. It (arrest) is only to stop and silence the opposition in the country," Mr Moily said.

On August 29, the Karnataka High Court had dismissed Mr Shivakumar's petition challenging the summons issued by the ED in December 2018.

Later, he was summoned by the law enforcement agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was asked to appear before it on August 30, following which he was interrogated for four days.

The 57-year-old leader had earlier asserted that he has not done anything wrong and will fully cooperate with the investigating agency.

"It is all a conspiracy. I have not made any mistake, murder or indulged in corruption. The money you found is my money and I earned it," he had said.