press trust of india
Bangalore, August 2: The Income Tax Department Wednesday conducted searches at 64 locations and properties linked to Karnataka Energy Minister D K Shivakumar, who was overseeing the stay of 44 Congress MLAs from Gujarat at a resort near here, in connection with a case of alleged tax evasion.
I-T officials said about Rs 10 crore cash has been recovered during the raids at various properties linked to the minister, who was taken to his house in Bangalore from the resort by the taxman early Wednesday.
A “good amount” of jewellery has also been recovered from a teacher’s locker in a college here. The locker is in the name of a relative of Shivakumar, they said. About half-a-dozen note-counting machines have also been brought at two locations in Safdarjung Enclave in Delhi and in Hasan and Mysuru in Karnataka to count the cash.
While about Rs 7.9 crore cash has been recovered from Delhi, about Rs 2.23 crore has been found at locations in the southern state.
Officials privy to the action said the department is investigating Shivakumar in a case of alleged tax evasion and huge undisclosed investments in real estate and other sectors. Certain investments linked to him in Singapore and few other foreign locations are also under the scanner of the department, they said.
Some shell firms and their operatives allegedly linked to this case are also being probed, they added. They said the I-T sleuths reached the Eagleton resort near here to question the minister, who was staying at the resort for the night after arriving late night to the Karnataka capital from Delhi.
Shivakumar, who was in charge of the 44 MLAs lodged there to prevent the BJP from allegedly “poaching” them, was at the resort when the search took place, the I-T officials said.
IT raid attempt to threaten Guj party MLAs: Cong
Bangalore: The Income Tax raid on Karnataka Minister D K Shivakumar at the resort where Gujarat Congress MLAs are lodged was an attempt to threaten them, party spokesman Shaktisinh Gohil alleged Wednesday. Gohil, himself a Gujarat MLA camping here, claimed he has a video clipping that contradicted the government’s version that the place where MLAs are lodged was not searched. “They say that they had not gone to a place where MLAs are lodged, but I can show you a small video clipping…you can see the lobbies where we are lodged. I will post it on my Twitter,” he told reporters here pointing to a video on his phone.
