india

Updated: Apr 17, 2019 09:00 IST

Income tax officials Tuesday carried out coordinated raids at premises owned by people allegedly linked to the Janata Dal (Secular) party in Mandya and Hassan districts, from where party supremo H D Deve Gowda’s grandsons Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna are contesting their maiden Lok Sabha elections.

Sources in the I-T department said the searches were conducted by four teams, each comprising 15 officials at the offices, residences and factory premises of people allegedly associated with the JD(S) leadership. The officials were accompanied by Central Reserve Police Force personnel.

The JD(S) and its ally the Congress have been alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre has been “misusing” central agencies to pursue its “politics of vendetta”.

On March 28, leaders of both the parties led by chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara had staged a demonstration outside the income tax office when the raids began.

The principal chief commissioner of Income Tax (Karnataka-Goa region) B R Balakrishnan had even written to the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka seeking action against those who staged demonstrations, threatened the officials and interrupted them from discharging their duties under various sections of the IPC.

Meanwhile, an income tax department release said, “Today the Income tax department is carrying out searches in Hassan, Mandya and Bangalore. The searches being conducted today are based on credible intelligence that certain businessmen have earned income not disclosed to tax and are in possession of undisclosed assets.”

“The taxpayers covered in today’s search operations are engaged in real estate, quarrying and stone crushing, executing government contracts, operating petrol bunks, saw mill and managing cooperative Banks. These are sectors which are prone to generation of black money,” it said.