Shivakumar is clean, law abiding citizen, says brother

Karnataka minister D K Shivakumar's brother and Lok Sabha member D K Suresh today came to his defence following Income Tax raids at properties linked to him, saying he was "clean and a law abiding citizen".

"Whatever Income Tax people ask, we will give proper answer, documents and things... my brother is clean and a law abiding citizen," he told reporters here, in the first reaction from the family.

Questioning IT sleuths accompanied by CRPF personnel coming to the resort where 44 Congress MLAs from Gujarat are lodged, he alleged that there was political vendetta behind the raids.

Suresh, representing Bengaluru rural constituency, said that raids were also conducted on his office and houses in Bengaluru and New Delhi.

His reaction came hours after I-T sleuths swooped down on 64 properties linked to Shivakumar, who was overseeing the stay of the Gujarat MLAs at the resort, brought there by the Congress in an attempt to prevent "poaching" by the BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha poll.