Why would anyone from ED play spoof on minister DK Shivakumar?

Energy Minister DK Shivakumar received call from Enforcement Directorate's office The caller from the other side reportedly sought his address to issue summons under Money Laundering Act The ED has termed it a hoax call and has complained with police

Energy Minister almost became the victim of spoofing after it turned out that a call he had received from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was a hoax!

Minister Shivakumar had received a call from the ED director Karnail Singh's landline seeking his residential address to issue him summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Shivakumar told media persons in Bengaluru on Wednesday that suspecting it to be fishy; he cross-checked the number which turned out to be from the ED office, itself. Shivakumar said he had asked his brother and MP DK Suresh to find out about this. Ever since Shivakumar faced the marathon Income Tax raid, there have been speculations that ED may take action against him.

But usually, the ED does not seek the address over the telephone but issues it through post or courier. But interestingly, minister Shivakumar's address is publicly available and there was no need for the ED to seek his address, as the caller claimed. After the minister called back to cross-check, the ED has termed it a hoax call and lodged a complaint with the Delhi police, reports Kannada Prabha.

In fact, this was not an isolated case. Recently, a similar call was made from the ED's office to a Delhi businessman. The ED is now going through the call records that went from the office to find out whether it was an insider's job.