Income Tax department seizes Rs 11 crore cash; scans property of Karnataka minister Shivakumar
BENGALURU: Income Tax raids on energy minister D K Shivakumar and his relatives continued for the second day in a row. The minister who was being questioned since Wednesday morning, was in the custody of IT officials for more than 36 hours, as of Thursday evening.
Despite rumours being abuzz that amount of wealth seized by the IT officials was huge, the total amount was still unclear.The Investigation wing of Karnataka and Goa Income Tax Department is expected to reveal information regarding the same on Friday.
Raids continued on the Sadashivanagar residence of the minister and his relatives, including his sister Padma, father-in-law Thimmaiah and their close aides on Thursday morning. Apart from Bengaluru — where most of the properties and offices of Shivakumar reportedly is, raids were also carried out in Hassan, Mysuru and Ramanagara districts.
Shivakumar was restricted to his residence by the IT officials throughout the day, while Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel stood guard outside. Documents associated with various businesses of the minister, said to be kept inside a safe at his residence was also accessed by IT sleuths. Though there were reports that IT officials took assistance from key-makers in the city to open the safes, Income Tax officials did not confirm the same.
Among the individuals and offices raided during the last two days include Shivakumar's brother and Bengaluru rural MP, D K Suresh, relative and MLC S Ravi, father-in-law Thimmaiah, business associate and close aide Sachin Narayan, KPCC secretary and aide Vinay Karthik, astrologer Dwarakanath, sister Padma and others. Apart from questioning the said individuals, IT officials also collected documents from the residences of the above, related to the assets owned by the minister.
Report leak
During the day, a mahajar report of Shivakumar's residence by Income Tax officials, related to their findings on the first day of raid, was leaked by supporters of the minister. The leaked-mahajar report noted that about 22 pages of documents were seized by the officials.
However, despite attempts, mahajar report of other locations — especially his Delhi residence where money was reportedly found — could not be accessed.
Meanwhile, an activist Guruprasad from Bidadi filed a complaint with Enforcement Directorate, alleging that the minister was involved in money laundering. He urged the Directorate to file a case against the minister as he had converted several thousand crores of old notes to new denominations, post demonetisation.
Earlier Shivakumar, who was questioned initially at Eagleton resort on Wednesday morning, was brought to his Sadashivanagar residence at around 12 noon. Since then, though the minister stepped out of his residence a couple of times of Wednesday, he remained largely indoors on Thursday.
IT officials are expected to continue the raid on Friday too.