Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah says I-T raids politically motivated

As the Income Tax raids at various properties linked to Karnataka Minister D K Shivakumar continued for the third consecutive day yesterday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called it a "politically motivated" move on the part of the central government

Police and CRPF frisk people during I-T raids at the residence of  D K Shivakumar in Bengaluru. Pic/PTI

As the Income Tax raids at various properties linked to Karnataka Minister D K Shivakumar continued for the third consecutive day yesterday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called it a "politically motivated" move on the part of the central government.

Raking up the issue of I-T sleuths using CRPF during the searches, he also hit out at the BJP for calling it a fight against corruption, saying most of its own leaders were facing graft charges.

The I-T department on Wednesday began its searches on various properties linked to Shivakumar, who is hosting 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs at a resort on city outskirts to forestall alleged attempts by BJP to poach on them ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls. During the searches across the country in connection with a case of alleged tax evasion, I-T officials said they seized cash and jewellery worth over Rs 15 crore so far. "This is a politically motivated raid; the timing also clearly shows that it is politically motivated," Siddaramaiah said.

Rs 15 cr
Worth of the cash and jewellery seized so far

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