10 developments around Karnataka I-T raids

The Income Tax Department on Tuesday carried out search and seizure operations in 39 premises including those owned by the Karnataka energy minister D K Shivakumar. During the raid, which began at 7 am, the Department informed media outlets that cash worth ₹7.5 crore had been seized from the minister’s Delhi house.

The raids acquired significance as the minister has been hosting 40 Congress MLAs from Gujarat, who had shifted to Bengaluru to avoid alleged coercion to switch sides in the election to the Rajya Sabha scheduled next week. INC leader Ahmed Patel, who is also seeking re-election to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat Assembly, described it as a witch-hunt.

Significantly, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the Parliament that ‘use or abuse’ of the raids would depend on what is recovered.

Here are 10 developments around the raid that you need to know :

• Displaying remarkable urgency, the Income Tax Department on Tuesday took the help of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for a fishing expedition to ‘raid’ 39 premises in Karnataka, Delhi and Gujarat that it described as an evidence gathering exercise for a long pending investigation. The Karnataka Government is learnt to have objected to the department using CRPF and not take state police into confidence before raiding the house of Energy minister DK Shivakumar and his associates.
• DK Shivakumar had declared his personal assets at ₹251 crore in his affidavit while filing his nomination for the 2013 Assembly election in Karnataka
• The Eagleton Resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru, from where the energy minister was taken away for questioning, has been housing 40 INC MLAs from Gujarat, who had been flown away from Gujarat fearing poaching by the BJP.
• The Income Tax raids were indicative of the desperation and frustration of the BJP which wants to get an additional seat in the Rajya Sabha by any means, alleged Ahmed Patel, MP and political secretary to INC president Sonia Gandhi.
• INC leader Ghulam Nabi Azad claimed in Parliament a political motive behind the raids and informed the House that even houses of INC MLAs in Gujarat were being searched by the Income Tax Department.
• The Income Tax Department issued a press statement denying it had raided the resort, claiming that only the room in which the minister was staying was searched. DK Shivakumar’s brother DK Suresh, also a MP from Bengaluru (Rural) who was also questioned, said that the staff of the resort were also quizzed.
• NDTV reported that two days before the Gujarat MLAs were flown into the resort, the Congress Government in Karnataka had slapped a notice on the resort, asking the promoters to pay a penalty of ₹982 crore for regularising 77 acres of land.
• “The Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah seem to be directing the search operations against us. Such a raid during the Gujarat polls when Congress MLAs from Gujarat are here is the lowest one can stoop to,” said DK Suresh to the media, adding, “neither we nor the Congress will be put on the back foot by such brazen arm twisting tactics.”
• TV channels reported IT teams disclosing that Rs. 11 crore in cash was seized in raids at around 60 places in Karnataka and Delhi. TV channels further quoted IT sources as claiming that the Karnataka energy minister had tried to ‘tear some documents’ at the resort.
• In the last six months, Income Tax Department has conducted searches in the premises of Congress MLA MTB Nagaraj, Congress women’s wing chief Lakshmi Hebbalkar and firms linked to minister Ramesh Jarkiholi in Karnataka.

Congress leaders took to Twitter to protest against the raids. Karnataka Chief Minister condemned the use of central para military force in an IT search:

Sanjay Nirupam called it goondagardi of BJP.

Senior leader of the Congress condemned the raids as an unprecedented witch-hunt by the BJP:

Some other tweets also were critical of the raids: