BENGALURU: In a pre-dawn swoop Thursday, Income Tax officials along with CRPF personnel carried out raids at the residences of Karnataka Minor Irrigation minister C S Puttaraju and his nephew.
The raids were also carried out at the residences of PWD minister H D Revanna’s close associates Narayana Reddy, Ashwath Gowda and Raya Gowda in Hassan, sources said.
Revanna’s son and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s grandson Prajjwal is contesting from the Hassan Lok Sabha seat.
Condemning the raids, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy tweeted, “PM @narendramodi’s real surgical strike is out in the open through IT dept raids. The constitutional post offer for IT officer Balakrishna helped the PM in his revenge game. Highly deplorable to use govt machinery, corrupt officials to harass opponents during election time.”
Speaking to a private news channel, JD(S) leader Puttaraju said three teams of Income Tax officials and Central Reserve Police Force personnel carried out raids at his Chinnakurli residence in Mandya and his nephew’s house in Mysuru.
The development came a day after Kumaraswamy raised fear about possible raids on Congress and JD(S) functionaries in the state.
He claimed that CRPF personnel were brought from various parts of the country to carry out the raids.
The raids on the Congress and the JD(S) leaders can take place early Thursday morning using CRPF jawans instead of taking Karnataka Police’ help in order to maintain secrecy, Kumaraswamy claimed on Wednesday.
“Three teams of I-T officials and CRPF soldiers comprising eight soldiers carried out raids at my Chinnakurli residence in Mandya and my nephew’s residence in Mysuru,” Puttaraju told the news channel.
The minister said he was not afraid of the raids and instead, it had instilled confidence in him.
“I am not deterred by the raids, which are election related. I would like to know which BJP leader’s house in Karnataka has been raided,” Puttaraju, who is Mandya district’s in-charge minister, said.
The JD(S) has assigned him to oversee the electioneering of H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is fighting his maiden election from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat.
The chief minister had Wednesday warned that he would follow what his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Bannerjee did to counter the ‘misuse’ of central agencies.
Banerjee had staged a ‘Save the Constitution’ dharna from February 3-5 in Kolkata after the CBI’s failed bid to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with chit fund cases.
Puttaraju said a meeting will be convened soon where mode of protest against these raids will be decided.
Sources in the Congress said the raids have been carried out at least 10 to 15 places in the city and elsewhere without giving details.
Income Tax officials were not available for comment. (AGENCIES)
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