IT officials raid Reddy brothers' associates

Income tax officials on Monday raided offices and residences of a few legislators belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. The raids were conducted on the private office of state health minister B Sriramulu, a close confidante of the Bellary mining barons, the Reddy brothers, residence of their advocate and houses of two other legislators, B Nagendra and Suresh Babu. The raids, which started early in the morning, went on till late in the afternoon.

“We have conducted raids in Bangalore, Bellary and Hospet. It is a search operation and will continue,” an official of the IT Department said. The official declined to divulge further details.

The IT department officials from Karnataka and Goa region launched simultaneous raids on the construction and mining companies belonging to the MLAs at several places in Bangalore, Bellary, Belgaum, Hospet and Hubli by officials from the Karnataka and Goa region.

Janardhan Reddy’s personal secretary Ali Khan’s residence was also raided. Searches were also conducted in the rooms allotted to Suresh Babu and Nagendra in the Legislators’ Home in Bangalore. A large number of documents have also been seized and their bank accounts frozen. The raids were said to have been conducted at over 50 premises.

Bellary, known for its rich iron ore deposits, is the political stronghold of infrastructure and tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy and his elder brother revenue minister G Karunakara Reddy.

Speaking to reporters in Haveri, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, however, said he had no information of the raids and declined to comment.

Suresh Babu and B Nagendra are said to be close to the Reddys and were elected from Kampli and Kudligi assembly constituencies respectively.

Former Union minister and Karnataka government’s special representative in Delhi V Dhananjaya Kumar termed the raids as a ‘political conspiracy’ to destabilise the BJP government in the state.

Sriramulu and the Reddy brothers have not reacted to the raids so far.

It can be recalled that the Reddy brothers, namely Janardhan Reddy, Karnataka Revenue Minister G Karunakar Reddy and Health Minister B Sreeramulu have been accused of carrying out illegal mining on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border.

The raids assume importance in the background of allegations from opposition parties that the ruling BJP is paying off MLAs from other parties to resign their post and join the BJP. Chief minister Yeddyurappa had recently announced that his government would kick start an inquiry into the unaccounted and illegal ‘horse trade’ money.