The Income Tax (I-T) department has recovered an undisclosed income worth Rs 300 crore in raids on Karnataka Energy Minister Doddaalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar and his family and associates, said a leading English channel on Saturday, August 5.
Karnataka I-T raids: Cash recovered from minister's house; Congress cries foul
Off the Rs 300 crore, Rs 100 crore belong to and his family, sources told NDTV.
The tax department, which denied charges that the raids conducted against the heavyweight Karnataka minister is politically motivated, has said it will soon issue an official statement.
Raids and recoveries
The taxmen raid on Shivakumar's residence that had begun at around 7 am on Wednesday, August 2, and continued till early morning on Saturday, August 5, has concluded. The I-T officials combed through over 60 locations related to the minister in Karnataka and Delhi in the four-day-long raid.
The tax officials conducted searches at the minister's in-laws' place on Saturday. They have seized over Rs 15 crore in cash and jewellery from more than 60 locations linked to Shivakumar. Taxmen also found Rs 5 crore cash fronm Shivakumar's residence at Delhi' Safdarjung Enclave on Wednesday.
On Wednesday alone, 80 officials had raided 39 locations around Bengaluru.
The minister, who is also known as DKS, was picked up the Eagleton Golf Resort in Bidadi near Bengaluru where over 40 Congress MLAs from Gujarat are said to be staying to prevent being poached by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Gujarat legislators were flown to Bengaluru on July 28 after it was said that the BJP was threatening them and even offering Rs 15 crore to support it in the high-voltage Rajya Sabha polls, set to be held on August 8.
Here's what Shivakumar and kin said
Shivakumar has been facing tough questioning since Wednesday and continued until late after Saturday midnight.
"I'm not the kind of person that violates the law and the Constitution... the truth will come out," Shivkumar had told reporters after emerging from his home at a posh locality in Bengaluru earlier.
On Friday, D K Suresh, Shivakumar's brother and MP from Bengaluru Rural, had said that not all of the cash reportedly seized was from his family.
Meanwhile, the state's ruling party has not made any statement about the raids. However, they have questioned the taxmen's timing of raids against Shivakumar in a tax-evasion case. They also questioned the need to have used the central police forces in the raids.
About 40 I-T officials, with protection from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), were said to have carried out searches at the Eagleton resort and also checking vehicles moving in and out of the resort on Wednesday.
"This is a politically motivated raid," said Karnataka's Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah.
