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 I-T Dept. rules out link between the operations and MLAs’ stay in the resort.

The Income Tax Department on Wednesday conducted search and seizure operations at Eagleton Resort on Bengaluru’s outskirts where Gujarat Congress legislators, numbering 40, are kept by the party, apprehending cross-voting in the coming Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat after six MLAs of the State left the party. They were brought to Bengaluru on July 28.

Karnataka’s Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar and his brother, D.K. Suresh, MP from Bengaluru rural, who have been put in charge of the legislators’ stay in the resort by the party, have been the target of the operations. Searches are being conducted in their houses, both in Sadashivanagar in Bengaluru, too. Mr. Shivakumar’s residence in New Delhi was also searched.

The Minister had been in charge of such resort stays of MLAs during times of crisis for the Congress earlier as well.

The I-T Department, however, issued a formal statement delinking the operations at the resort with the stay of the Gujarat MLAs. The statement said the Karnataka Investigation Wing of the I-T Department was conducting searches in the case of "a Karnataka Minister and not concerned with the MLAs."

“The search under Section 132 of the Income Tax Act is an evidence gathering exercise, which is being carried in compliance with all statutory requirements. The search is the continuation of an investigation, which has been in progress for a considerable period of time. The timing of the search was decided well in advance. The events involving certain MLAs of another State being brought to Karnataka were unforeseen and unpredictable events. The Minister being searched was staying at a resort near Bangalore where some MLAs from another State are put up. Hence the Minister’s room alone is being searched. The search team has no concern with the MLAs and there has been no contact with MLAs and the search team,” the statement said.
Mr. Suresh told The Hindu that the search operations clearly showed the misuse of administrative mechanism for political ends.

“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 the State are here is the lowest one can stoop to. Neither we nor the Congress party will be put on the back foot by such brazen arm twisting tactics. We have nothing to fear as all our businesses are as per law and have not evaded any taxes. Gujarat Congress MLAs are our guests and the expense of their stay is being borne by Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee and not us,” he said.

While the Gujarat MLAs were not questioned by I-T sleuths, others, including them (the Minister and Mr. Suresh) and the resort staff, were quizzed, he said.

PTI quoted Karnataka Chief Minister as saying, "the I-T raid is an attempt to silence the voice against the BJP, and we will not bow down to intimidation."

Congress leader Ahmed Patel called the searches an "unprecedented witch hunt." "After using the state machinery and every agency, now this I-T raids reflect the desperation and frustration of the BJP," he said.
Multiple teams of I-T sleuths swooped down on these locations simultaneously at 7 a.m., sources said, adding that other locations of close associates and relatives of the Minister-MP duo were also being searched.

Mr. Shivakumar and Mr. Suresh also had two separate rooms booked at the resort from the last five days. These rooms were also broken open and searched, the sources said.

Incidentally in the last six months, several State Congress leaders, including Hoskote MLA MTB Nagaraj, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Women’s wing chief Lakshmi Hebbalkar and firms linked to Miinister Ramesh Jarkiholi, were targets of I-T search and seizure operations.