I-T officials carry out searches at JD(S)-linked cooperative bank in Karnataka

Income Tax officials on Saturday conducted searches at the Hassan District Cooperative Central Bank, which has JD(S) leaders on its board, sources said.

This comes just days after the schedule for Assembly polls in Karnataka was announced as the Model Code of Conduct came into effect across the state on March 29.

Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's grandson and former state minister H D Revanna's son Suraj Revanna,who is also the JD(S) MLC, party MLA C N Balakrishna and former JD(S) MLC Patel Shivaram are among the directors of the cooperative bank, the HDCC website shows.

Sources said the IT officials are checking the files since Friday and continued their operation on Saturday. They also seized some documents.

There was deployment of police at the bank and no person other than bank authorities were allowed to enter the premises, sources added.

Neither the bank officials nor the IT sleuths were available for comment.