JOIN USCM got alert about I-T raids through cab driver
Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy got to know about the raids by the Income Tax department sleuths on the premises of the leaders of the JD(S) and their confidants through one of his die-hard fans, a cab driver from Nagamangala taluk, working in Bengaluru.
The unidentified driver suspected the motive behind the client, who booked cabs in bulk. His suspicion grew when he learnt that the destination of the booked cabs was in Mandya, Mysuru and Hassan districts. A keen follower of politics especially that of JD(S) and Kumaraswamy, he alerted a leader of the party from his own taluk.
The woman leader of the JD(S) in Nagamangala taluk, whose audio clipping and masked video, appreciating the efforts and political acumen of the cab driver is being circulated on the social media has, in turn, alerted District in-charge Minister C S Puttaraju. Thus, on Wednesday, Kumaraswamy might have hinted at the expected I-T raids.
According to official sources, the particular cab driver has been identified and the officials are contemplating initiation of action against him.
It has to be noted that a raid is under progress on the houses of Puttaraju at Pandavapura town and at Chinakurali village in Mandya district and the house of his nephew Ashok at Vijayanagar, in Mysuru, since Thursday morning.
Similar raids are under progress on the houses of contractors in Hassan district. The houses of Ashwathnarayan, Thimmegowda and Narayana Reddy at Channarayapatna; the house of contractor Abdul Hafiz at Shravanabelagola in Channarayapatna taluk; and the houses of contractor brothers Shivamurthy, Channashetty and Gopal at Mallipatna in Arkalgud taluk have been raided.
The I-T officials also conducted a raid on the office of the Public Works Department in Hassan and inquired Executive Engineer Manjunath. More officials of the department in Hassan have been subject to inquiry, according to sources.