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The Income Tax Department on Wednesday conducted searches at multiple locations in Karnataka and Delhi related to Karnataka Energy minister DK Shivakumar. [caption id=“attachment_3884249” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of DK Shivakumar. Image courtesy: @WithDKS/Twitter[/caption] He is hosting 44 Congress MLAs from Gujarat at a resort near Bengaluru, in connection with a tax evasion probe case. Officials privy to the early morning raids said a team of I-T sleuths have also reached the Eagleton resort near Bengaluru to question the minister, who was staying at the resort for the night. “The resort is not being raided,” the officials said. However, various other news reports said that the Eagleton resort was also being raided.
IT raids underway at Karnataka energy Min DK Shivakumar's residence in Kanakapura,Sadashivanagar and Cong MLAs rooms in Eagleton Golf Resort
— ANI (@ANI) August 2, 2017
A total of 39 premises of the minister and his family are being raided by a team of about 120 Income Tax Department officials with the aid of central paramilitary forces, they said. The department is also investigating charges of alleged role of money power and huge transfer of illegal funds for these polls. The Congress and BJP leaders lashed out at each other over the issue. While the Congress cried foul, alleging that the central government was engaging in vendetta politics, BJP said that the I-T department’s action was a “purely professional activity.” Congress leader Brijesh Kalappa, told CNN-News18, “It’s obvious that the Centre is playing a role. Earlier, I remember BJP used to call CBI a caged parrot. Now, is the CBI a handmaiden of the BJP?” “Even if the government crosses all limites of Hitlershahi, they will not be able to defeat the truth,” Randeep Surjewala said. “Now, a frustrated BJP is getting Income Tax raids conducted all over the place. But they will not succeed and Ahmed Patel will win the (Rajya Sabha) polls.” However, BJP’s GVL Narsimha Rao said that the Congress thought it was fashionable to call anti-corruption operations vendetta politics. Earlier, Congress had also alleged that BJP was using CBI and ED to target MLAs from their party. “BJP is using CBI and ED to target Congress MLAs. BJP threatened our families back in Gujarat, and that is why we came to Bengaluru of our own accord,” Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil had said in Bengaluru. He had further blamed BJP of bidding Rs 1,500 crore as bribe money and had claimed that the party had tried to “buy” MLAs from the Congress. Shivakumar is hosting his party’s MLAs from Gujarat who have been brought to the Bengaluru resort till the day of the Rajya Sabha elections on 8 August. The Congress legislators were taken to the resort after six of their colleagues quit the party. Six of the 57 Congress MLAs in Gujarat, from where senior party leader Ahmed Patel is contesting for the Rajya Sabha, resigned from the party in the last few days with three joining the BJP on Friday last ahead of the Rajya Sabha poll. The party has apprehensions over Patel’s election prospects, if more MLAs defect. With inputs from agencies
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