I-T Dept. refutes Siddaramaiah's Shivakumar assertion

The Income Tax department (I-T) on Thursday refuted allegations made by few political leaders that searches made by them in the state, were politically motivated.

The Director General of Income Tax (Investigation), in a statement, has drawn attention to the reports, in addition to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's assertion, that stated there were few offcials who had openly asked Congress leader D. Shivakumar to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The statement comes a day after Siddaramaiah made the startling claim during the party's 'Black Day' protests against the demonetisation drive.

"The Centre has been using the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the I-T department and the Enforcement Directorate, all under its control, to threaten people. Earlier this year, when Shivakumar was raided by the I-T department, its officials who were part of the team openly asked him to join the BJP. This is the level of saffronisation in the country," he had said.

"The Income tax department is a professional and politically neutral department. The searches carried out have, without exception, resulted in admission and detection of previously undisclosed income running into hundreds of crores of rupees and seizure of large amounts of cash and jewellery," the I-T Department's statement added.

Shivakumar was raided by the Income Tax Department in August, at a time when he was hosting Congress' MLAs from Gujarat at his Bengaluru resort, in order to keep them away from horse-trading attempts ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls.