The Income Tax department is conducting raids at several offices owned by former chief minister of Karnataka SM Krishna's son-in-law VG Sidhartha. He is the founder-owner of the popular chain of cafes Cafe Coffee Day and several of the CCD offices as well as its headquarters in Bengaluru are being searched by the taxmen.
Apart from Bengaluru, the raids are also being conducted in Chikmagalur in Karnataka, Mumbai, and Chennai.
Income Tax raids on VG Siddhartha: #Visuals from Café Coffee Day HQ in Bengaluru. pic.twitter.com/GROf1wpun5
— ANI (@ANI) September 21, 2017
Bengaluru: Income Tax Dept raids premises of Former Karnataka CM SM Krishna's son-in-law & owner of Café Coffee Day, VG Siddhartha.
— ANI (@ANI) September 21, 2017
Income Tax raids on VG Siddhartha: Over 20 locations in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Chikmagalur being raided.
— ANI (@ANI) September 21, 2017
The taxmen are also searching the offices of two of his estates, a residential school, and the Serai Resorts, reported the Times of India. Meanwhile, the exact number of places being raided is yet to be revealed.
Apart from CCD, Siddhartha also founded Global Technology Ventures Ltd in 2000. He is also a board member of various companies such as GTV, Mindtree, Liqwid Krystal, and Way2Wealth.
The businessman is married to former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna's daughter. Krishna was a part of the Congress party for about 46 years and even served as the external affairs minister during the UPA regime, but joined the BJP in March 2017. Krishna, at the time, had said that BJP was the next stop in his long political career.
"When I was Chief Minister between 1999 and 2004, Atal Behari Vajpayeeji was Prime Minister and Ananth Kumarji is witness to the fact that Atalji always had a soft corner for me," The Hindu had quoted Krishna as saying. He also said that he was glad to be a part of the BJP and saw a "great new India emerging under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the able assistance of BJP president Amit Shah."
Karnataka had witnessed another IT raid just a few weeks ago when tax sleuths searched the offices and residence of state Energy Minister D K Shivakumar.
