BENGALURU: The Directorate General of Income Tax (DGIT), Karnataka on Thursday carried out simultaneous search and seizure operations at nearly 50 locations in the state, including Bengaluru, in connection with alleged tax evasion and amassing wealth more than the known sources of income.
Though the DGIT has been tight-lipped about the searches and seizures, sources said the tax sleuths reportedly searched the premises of a person close to a former chief minister. The raids were conducted on the premises of some contractors, engineers and chartered accountants, who are involved in key irrigation projects in the state.
Besides Bengaluru, the raids were conducted in Tumakuru, Bagalkot, Belagavi, Vijayapura and Davangere, said sources. Among the entities searched is Satyanarayana Construction Company’s site office at Singrihalli village near Elerampura in Koratagere taluk of Tumakuru district.
Contractors among those raided
In 2019, the company was awarded the tender to implement part of the Yettinahole project on a 244-km stretch between Elerampura and Thippagondanahalli reservoir in Ramanagara at an estimated cost of Rs 245 crore. The IT officials have collected some documents from the company officials and the local Kolala police had camped at the site.
A team of officials also searched the residence of contractor M Shrinivas at Kotayya Camp in Gangavati of Koppal district. They are believed to have seized ‘valuable’ records from the residence of Shrinivas, who has undertaken works for the Water Resources Department in Gangavati and other parts of the state. Shrinivas resides at Bengaluru and the Gangavati residence is looked after by his father-inlaw Satyanarayana, according to locals.
Reacting to the development, former CM B S Yediyurappa told media persons at his hometown Shikaripura that he came to know through TV channels about the raid on the residence of Umesh, the individual who reportedly worked with him, and added that he would react only after the latter responds to it. “Umesh worked with me and also with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
He may speak about the IT raid tomorrow. I will react later,” he said. “There is nothing special about the raids and it is not politically motivated. It will not have any impact on the outcome of the upcoming bypolls. The IT officials act as per law,” he remarked.
Won’t affect govt: CM
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said he is gathering infor-mation about the raids. He insis-ted that it won’t affect the govern-ment and added that he can only comment after he has all details.