Raids on Karnataka Minister Managing Gujarat Lawmakers, 11 crore seized

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Aug 02, 2017 : Karnataka minister DK Shivakumar was raided by taxmen today and picked up for questioning from a luxury resort in Bengaluru, where he had stayed last night with 43 lawmakers flown in from Gujarat by the Congress to prevent a rash of defections.

 

The minister was seen tearing up documents at the Eagleton Golf Resort, said Income Tax officials, disclosing that nearly Rs. 11 crore in cash has been seized in raids at 60 places in Karnataka and Delhi.

Mr Shivakumar, the Energy Minister in Karnataka’s Congress government, is being investigated for tax evasion. He was summoned along with another minister in April. It is suspected that he is the "DKS" referred to by a Congress leader in a diary related to kickbacks seized earlier this year. The documents that he was allegedly trying to destroy had names with amounts next to them, sources say.
 

Income Tax officials picked up Karnataka minister DK Shivakumar from a Bengaluru resort where 43 Gujarat Congress lawmakers are staying
To search for him, a raid team went with Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel to the resort.

Mr Shivakumar, widely seen as chief trouble-shooter for the Karnataka Congress, is designated handler for the Gujarat lawmakers who were rushed to Bengaluru late on Friday night after six of their colleagues quit the party, precipitating a crisis in the state ahead of the Rajya Sabha election next week - in which lawmakers are to vote - and polls later this year.

"The BJP is on an unprecedented witch-hunt just to win one Rajya Sabha seat," tweeted Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who is seeking a re-election to the upper house from one of three seats in Gujarat and squaring off with a Congress rebel.

"After using the state machinery and every other agency, these I-T raids show their utter desperation and frustration," said Mr Patel, who is Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political adviser.

Responding to the Congress’s allegation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in parliament: "Don’t link the I-T raids to Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat."

The Congress alleges that its lawmakers are being intimidated by the ruling BJP in Gujarat and also being offered Rs. 15 crore for their support in the Rajya Sabha polls on Tuesday.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the raids were "not fair" and a conspiracy. "CRPF was used during IT raids instead of seeking police cooperation," he complained.

courtesy:NDTV