JOIN USNIA officials quiz Kimmane over party office ownership
A team of the officials of National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday interrogated Congress leader and former minister Kimmane Ratnakar in connection with the ownership of a taluk Congress party office, as it belonged to the family members of Mohammed Shariq, the prime accused in the Mangaluru cooker bomb case.
Speaking to media persons, he said NIA authorities had called him around 9:00 am and he went to the party office in Thirthahalli town. "I made it clear that neither he nor the party workers have any link with the family members of the land owner. It is only a relationship between the land owner and the tenant. My nephew (Naveen K G) has paid an advance of Rs 10 lakh to the land owner for the lease and we have paid Rs 1,000 as rent till December 2022. We are ready to vacate the premises if the advance is returned."
Refuting the media reports that his house had been raided by NIA, he said it was the work of BJP to tarnish his image and that of his party as the elections are fast approaching. Some TV news channels have aided BJP in this regard, he added.
The officials raided the premises of the grandmother of Shariq and inspected documents related to their properties. They also went through the lease agreement of the Congress party office and houses in the first floor of the same building as part of the investigation.
It may be mentioned here that Naveen K G had signed a lease agreement between him and Asim Abdul Majeed in 2015 for a period of eight years by paying an advance amount of Rs 10 lakh. It was agreed that Rs 1,000 would be paid as rent. Later, the owner had sold the land and Shariq too had received money earned through the sale. So, the NIA authorities had raided the premises belonging to family members of Shariq.