As the I-T raids continued for the second day on Thursday on the premises of Karnataka Power Minister DK Shivakumar and his associates in Bengaluru and other places, the perplexed Congress is thinking to shift the 44 MlAs from Gujarat who were holed up in a resort on the outskirts earlier than expected out of city.
Cash and jewellery worth over Rs 15 crore have so far been seized by IT authorities as part of the ongoing searches at multiple premises linked to Karnataka Energy MinisterD K Shivakumar and his associates.
A senior Congress leader on the condition of anonymity told The Pioneer that the Gujarat MlAs who were kept in a posh resort since Saturday were desperate and shaken after IT raids on DK Shivakumar who was in charge of looking after them in Bengaluru. A source also said three MlAs in the resort fell ill and they were shifted to hospital for treatment.
The entire episode kicked up a political storm and linked it to the timing of the crucial Gujarat Rajaysabha elections where in Shivakumar, the Karnataka muscle man of the Congress taking care of these Congress MlAs fearing poaching by the BJP.
Meanwhile the ruling Congress continued their protest against the raids and Karnataka Government officially lodged a protest against the raids to the Union Revenue Secretary. Karnataka Additional Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra in his letter said that the conduct of Income Tax Department during the raids in Karnataka on Wednesday utilising the CRPF in full gear without keeping local police informed casts aspersion on the State police force.
“It casts an aspersion of adverse credibility, integrity and professionalism of the State Police which has been used by effectively and without complaint by the IT department in previous operations,” the letter read. The Karnataka Government has claimed that since there was no coordination between the IT department and the local police, a law and order situation could have arisen.
“The Commissioner of Police Bengaluru has informed that about 30 CRPF personnel were deployed in full gear with weapons. This also resulted in protests by the local supporters of the Hon’ble Minister (SIC) and police personnel were required to be mobilised and deployed at short notice to maintain law and order, “ the Karnataka Government said.
The letter addressed to Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia over ‘the way raids were conducted by Income Tax officials’ questioned the deployment of CRPF personnel and lack of coordination with the local police. Above all, the letter states that a law and order situation could have been created because of the IT department’s conduct.
lashing out at the Revenue department for violating norms of informing the local police about raids, the Karnataka Government has registered its ‘strong protest’. The State has asked the Revenue Secretary to ‘advise the Income Tax Department suitably in the matter’. As the raids became a major political row between the Congress and the BJP, the Congress accused the BJP of using Central agencies to target political rivals. Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah had said deploying Central Armed Police Force was in violation of norms.
The Congress and BJP leaders traded barbs over the issue. While the Congress cried foul, alleging that the Central Government was indulging in vendetta politics, the BJP insisted that the I-T department’s action was a “purely professional activity.”
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was the one who was furiously condemned the I-T raids and called it a political conspiracy and vendetta politics.
According to sources in the I-T department they have seized money and documents from various properties of Karnataka Energy Minister DK Shivakumar on Thursday even as raids continued at several locations allegedly linked to the Congress leader. Shivakumar did not come out of his posh Sadashivanagra residence since yesterday.
According to sources in the IT department cash of over Rs 11 crore has been seized till now by the Income Tax Department as part of the ongoing searches at multiple premises linked to Karnataka Energy Minister DK Shivakumar and his associates in connection with a case of alleged tax evasion.