Karnataka minister D.K. Shivakumar appears before IT department

The Income Tax department conducted raids at various properties linked to Karnataka power minister D.K. Shivakumar last week. Photo: PTI

Bengaluru: Karnataka energy minister D.K. Shivakumar appeared before the Income Tax (I-T) department in Bengaluru on Monday.

The I-T department has raided the homes and offices of Shivakumar, his family and close aides since Wednesday over an earlier case of irregularities.

“They said that anything we need, we will call you back,” Shivakumar said on Monday after meeting with I-T department officials.

The department had first conducted a raid on a resort outside Bengaluru where Shivakumar was staying with at least 40 legislators from Gujarat.

Although the IT department clarified that the raids were not related to the housing of the Gujarat legislators, the Congress party accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- led central government of misusing investigative agencies against political opponents.

Congress legislators from Gujarat alleged that they were forced to flee their home state as the party’s legislators had been threatened and kidnapped and were under pressure to resign from their posts to defeat the re-election bid of Ahmed Patel, senior Congress leader and close aide of party president Sonia Gandhi, in the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on Tuesday.

Investigations against Shivakumar will continue. The minister refused to comment on the I-T raids at his house over three consecutive days. He has also refused to comment on whether the raids were politically motivated.