KARWAR: Income Tax sleuths raided on residence of Sirsi-Siddapur Congress candidate Bheemanna Naik in Sirsi on Tuesday night and search operation continued till late evening of Wednesday. It is the second I-T raid on Congress leader in Uttara Kannada district in the last one week.
According to sources, a group of eight I-T officials from Hubballi came in two cars and entered Naik’s house around 9 pm on Tuesday night. Naik is into liquor business in Sirsi town. The officials have been checking the documents in the house and are said to have recovered some important documents. In the wake of the raid, Naik is restricted to his home rather than campaigning in the constituency.
Naik, who was Uttara Kannada District Congress Committee president, is one of the strong contender and he represents dominant Namadhari community in the constituency.He is also a close relative of former chief minister Late S Bangarappa and now he is one of close associates of industries minister R V Deshpande.
Meanwhile, Congress leaders and workers accused that Naik was a winning candidate in Sirsi constituency and to defeat him BJP is using I-T department. It is a clear conspiracy of BJP in the state and on their direction only I-T officials have been targeting Congress leaders, they alleged.Last Wednesday (April 25) I-T officials raided Haliyal Block Congress president Subhash Korvekar’s house and his relatives houses in Haliyal of Uttara Kannada district.