Operation Kamala: I-T dept seeks evidence from Congress

The Income-Tax Department, Karnataka and Goa region has written to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao, seeking evidence on a case of cash allurement to Congress MLAs filed by him in September 2018. The letter by Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-tax and Director General (Investigation), B R Balakrishnan came in the wake of allegations of 'selective raids' against its supporters by the Congress-JD(S) coalition government.

The letter dated April 5, informed Rao that all three MLAs who were "approached with financial allurement" named by him in the complaint were summoned by the Department. "Two of them have denied that any such financial allurement was offered to them. The third person has not responded to our summons and notices, and he has unfortunately passed away recently," the letter said.

While the third MLA mentioned in the letter refers to late minister and Congress legislator C S Shivalli, identities of two other MLAs summoned by I-T Department is yet to be ascertained. Several Congress MLAs were allegedly approached by BJP during its Operation Kamala 2, which included MLAs Anand Singh, Kampli Ganesh, B Nagendra, Ramesh Jarkiholi among others.

In such circumstances, "there is no evidence on which any action can be taken. If any relevant evidence in this regard is available the same may kindly be passed on to us," the letter added.

It can be recalled that the State government is embroiled in an ongoing feud with the I-T Department, alleging that the Department was acting at the behest of Central government. Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and other leaders of the State had also staged a protest in front of I-T Department's office in the city on April 4, alleging partisan attitude.