Sleuths from the Income Tax Department, Goa, conducted searches at the residences of Congress leader and civil contractor U.B. Shetty and his brother Seetaram Shetty in Dharwad on Thursday.
A team of I-T officials visited the residence of PWD contractor Mr. Seetaram Shetty located at Vinayak Nagar and the posh bungalow of Mr. U.B. Shetty at Dasankoppa Circle in Dharwad. The searches were carried out from dawn to dusk.
The siblings reportedly have close contacts with KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar. Sources said that the searches were extended part of the exercise carried out by I-T officials at the residences and offices of contractors in Bengaluru recently. Around 50 officials and personnel from Goa, Bengaluru, and Belagavi were part of the searches.
A native of Byndoor in Udupi district, Mr. U.B. Shetty owns several educational institutions in this region and is said to be a key aspirant for the Legislative Council ticket from Udupi-Mangaluru region. Mr. U.B. Shetty returned to Dharwad from Bengaluru on Thursday morning and minutes later, the I-T teams reached his residence.
Congress leaders have taken exception to the searches. Belagavi MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar has said that this was nothing but “a ploy to harass Congress leaders ahead of the bypolls”. However, there was no question of any fear over such politically motivated searches and it would have no impact on the bypolls, she said.
KPCC member Robert Daddapuri also alleged that the raid was politically motivated but truth would prevail.
