Karnataka fumes at use of CRPF in I-T raids

Income Tax officers say the move was meant to avoid a leak or tip-off

In the net: A scene at the residence of Karnataka Energy Minister D. K. Shivakumar during an I-T raid in Bengaluru on Thursday.

The Karnataka government has expressed “strong protest” against the use of Central forces while conducting Income Tax search and seizure operations on the premises linked to Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

In a letter to Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, the State’s Additional Chief Secretary to Home Department Subhash Chandra said use of Central Reserve Police Force personnel in the operations is against the “established conventions of cooperative action between agencies of the Central and State government”, which cannot be bypassed in matters where both share responsibility.

Mr. Chandra said there were protests following the raids and “there was every possibility that the matter could have escalated” into a law and order situation, which is the responsibility of the State government.

This comes a day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed opposition to the use of CRPF personnel in the raids and called it “politically motivated” and against “the principles of democracy and co-operative federalism.”

‘Wrong impression’

In his letter to Mr. Adhia, the ACS has said deployment of CRPF “in full operational attire with weapons for a civilian operation” conveys a wrong impression. “It casts aspersions of adverse credibility, integrity and professionalism on the State police, which has been utilised by the IT department effectively earlier,” said the letter. The IT Department did not seek assistance from the local police or any senior police authority for these operations, Mr. Chandra said, arguing that Central forces being deployed for such an operation is a first for Karnataka. About 30 armed CRPF personnel were deployed in the city during the search.

However, I-T department sources said the department could seek the services of any force in its operations.

“There is no rule that only local police have to be roped in. The CRPF has been used earlier as well,” an official said. He added that the decision on not using local police was taken by senior officials “to avoid a leak or tip-off of the raid since the assessee is a Minister in the State government.”