In what can be termed phase-II of action against Energy Minister and Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar, the Income Tax sleuths conducted search, seizure and survey operations against 10 individuals and firms linked to the Minister on Wednesday.
The raids were conducted simultaneously in Bengaluru, Chennai and New Delhi from Wednesday morning.
The search and seizure operations were a continuation of the probe into the disproportionate assets case against the Minister. Earlier this month, I-T sleuths conducted a marathon four-day search on the Minister and 40 other firms as well as individuals linked to him.
Operations on Wednesday were mostly linked to his official position as the Energy Minister. Searches were conducted on the premises belonging to Vishwanath Reddy, Officer on Special Duty to the Minister, and retired IAS officer Sridhar, the Minister’s personal secretary, apart from a host of companies from the power sector.
I-T sleuths also conducted searches on Anil Jain, who is linked to a power company in Chennai, apart from a couple of energy firms in New Delhi and Bengaluru. Searches were conducted on the premises belonging to two close aides of the Minister — Vijay Mulugund, secretary, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, and Yogish Honnur.
I-T sources said that these individuals and firms were targeted based on the leads acquired by the sleuths during their probe against the Minister. Sources had then claimed that the search operations led to unearthing of undisclosed income of nearly Rs. 300 crore, although there has been no clarity on whether it belonged to the Minister and his family.
