Tax department denies leaking Karnataka MLA's diary

The Income Tax Department on Monday denied leaking a controversial diary seized from the house of Karnataka Congress lawmaker K. Govindraju here in March 2016.

"We have not leaked the diary. You should ask them from where or whom they got it. Though many documents were seized during the search, we have not disclosed or made them public as investigation was underway," Income Tax Director-General (Investigation) B.R. Balakrishnan said here.

The diary is alleged to have details of payments made in 'crores of rupees' to Congress leaders including President Sonia Gandhi, Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Treasurer Motilal Vohra and others by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and other leaders in the state as 'goodwill'.

Quoting from the diary, BJP state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa asked for a CBI probe.

The contents of the purported diary were telecast on national and Kannada news channels on February 23 even after Govindaraju disowned it.

"The diary does not belong to me. The entries in it were not made by me nor they are in my handwriting," Govindaraju told the media.

A member of the State Legislative Council and Parliamentary Affairs Secretary to the Chief Minister, Govindaraju, however, admitted that the IT sleuths had searched his house in connection with the filing of income tax returns and seized documents from his premises.

--IANS

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