Conditional bail for Karnataka minister in tax evasion cases

A special court on Thursday granted a conditional bail to Karnataka Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar for allegedly destroying evidence in three income tax evasion cases.

Economic Offences Wing Court judge Justice M.S. Alva granted conditional bail to Shivakumar on Rs 1 lakh personal bond and Rs 25,000 sureties by two persons, Additional Solicitor General P. Navalgadi told reporters here.

The investigation wing of the Karnataka-Goa region's Income Tax Department found evidence of the senior minister destroying evidence during a raid by its sleuths at a private resort in August first week last year.

Arguing against granting the bail, Navalgadi told the court that the minister had admitted to have torn a paper in which details of money trail were noted while investigation into tax evasion was in progress.

Shivakumar's counsel M.V. Seshachala, however, said the sum of the amount noted in the paper was not the same as in the money trail being investigated.

"As the cases of economic offences were bailable and the allegation of destroying evidence are taken up during the trail, we have requested the court to grant bail to Shivakumar," he told reporters.

The IT Department directed the 55-year-old Congress lawmaker to appear before the special court in connection with the illegal properties seized during the searches at his residences in Bengaluru, Kanakapura and Mysuru and New Delhi from August 2-5, 2017.

Shivakumar is the legislator from the Kanakapura in Ramanagara district. As per the declaration in the nomination to the Election Commission for the 2013 assembly election, Shivakumar was then the second richest politician in the state, with assets valued at Rs 251 crore.

--IANS

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