JOIN USThe Income Tax officials on Monday conducted raid on the office and residence of Congress MLA from Anekal in Bengaluru, B Shivanna, and houses of four local Congress leaders in Chikkamagaluru district.
Searches at the house and office of Shivanna started in the morning. Officials seized documents from his office and house both located at Suryanagar near Chandapura on city outskirts towards Electronics City.
Incidentally, the raids come a day after the Congress announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming elections. I-T officials remained tightlipped about the searches. However, sources said that the department received a credible information based on which the searches were carried out.
It could be recalled that close on the heels of elections in the state, I-T department had sought bills cleared by six government departments. In a letter to Chief Secretary K Ratna Prabha, Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) B R Balakrishna said the intelligence report indicated that huge payments to contractors were cleared during the last quarter of the financial year.
Meanwhile, officials searched houses of four local Congress leaders in Koppa and nearby places in Chikkamagaluru district. Sources said the premises belonging to district Congress president H M Satish in Jayapura at Koppa, block Congress president Sudhir Kumar Murolli, Congress kasaba hobli unit head Subramanya Shetty and Congress leader in Herur Kukkudge Ravindra were searched.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters at an election rally in Mysuru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah described the raids as “politically motivated.”