I-T raids Karnataka minister's home, Bengaluru resort housing Gujarat MLAs

The raids started at 7 am this morning, Congress lawmaker N Ravi's house raided too

Income Tax (IT) sleuths on Wednesday began conducting raids at the official residence of Karnataka Power Minister D K Shivakumar and at Eagleton Golf resort near Bengaluru where 44 Congress lawmakers from Gujarat are staying.

"Yes, raids are underway at the Minister's house and the resort. Our teams have gone to search the places," a senior tax officer told IANS on condition of anonymity.

Raid was also being conducted at the house of Congress lawmaker N Ravi in the city's southern suburb.

The raids took place at minister's residence in Kanakapura, Sadashivanagar and at rooms of Congress Party MLAs in the resort.

The raids started at 7 am this morning and are still underway.

Shivkumar was in-charge of hospitality for all CongressGujarat MLAs staying in Bengaluru.

"As the searches are on, we cannot give details now. We are not authorised to brief media about such things. Our officers will brief," added the official.

A representative of Eagleton Golf Resort declined to confirm if IT raids were conducted in the 35 deluxe rooms where the Gujarat Congress MLAs have been staying since Saturday.

The Congress legislators were flown to Bengaluru from Ahmedabad and lodged in the posh resort at Bidadi, about 30 km from here, ostensibly to prevent the BJP from poaching them ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha by-poll in which its senior leader Ahmed Patel is contesting for the fifth term from Gujarat.

Speaking to the reporters, Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar earlier said, "To ensure that BJP is not successful in its mission, 44 of us Congress MLAs are leaving from Gujarat for Bengaluru.To hide their failure, the saffron party is trying to make sure our MLAs resign by offering money and through police pressure."