IT sleuths seize ₹4.13 cr cash, jewellery worth ₹1.32 cr in K’taka
The Income Tax (I-T) department has seized ₹4.13 crore in cash and 4.52 kg gold jewellery valued at ₹1.32 crore during raids conducted over the last three weeks in poll-bound Karnataka, an official said on Saturday.
“Of the ₹4.13-crore seized, ₹4.03 crore is in ₹2,000 and ₹500 currency notes, with Bengaluru accounting for ₹2.47 crore and Ballari ₹55 lakh,” said state I-T Director-General (Investigations) G Ramesh in a statement.
A single-phase election to the 225-member Karnataka assembly, including one nominated is scheduled on May 12 across the southern state, with vote count on May 15.
“We have stepped up surveillance and monitoring of activities in view of the state assembly election. Seizure in higher denomination rises eyebrows, as people are finding difficulty in drawing cash from banks and ATMs due to its shortage in some parts of the country,” asserted Ramesh.
MAJORITY OF SEIZURE IN HIGH-VALUE NOTES
The Income Tax department said ₹2,000 and ₹500 notes constituted 97% of the ₹4.13 crore cash seized in the souther state till now.
The revelation comes in the backdrop of a cash crunch being witnessed across various regions in the country as a number of ATMs had gone dry.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that makes policy for the ITD, had recently asked its probe wings in the country to check these instances.
“The majority of the cash (seized) is in the denominations of ₹2,000 and ₹500. Out of the total cash seized, an amount of ₹4.03 crore is in these higher denominations,” the department said in a statement.
The department said that while there are reports of cash shortage in some parts of the country, cash “seems to be flowing” in election-bound Karnataka.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah may have declared that his party has nothing to do with Gali Janardhan Reddy (in pic), but the saffron party seems to have quietly given the green signal to the controversial mining baron to throw his still considerable resources behind it. Reddy, jailed for illegal mining, is now out on bail although barred by a court order from entering Ballari (formerly Bellary), his pocket borough. The party has fielded Reddy’s younger brother Somashekara Reddy from the Ballari City constituency and his confidant BS Sriramulu from Molkalmuru in Chitradurga district.
Reddy has been meeting disaffected senior Congressmen of Ballari district and trying to lure them to the saffron fold.
SWhile there are many instances of multiple members of a family fighting elections at the same time, the only couple who are in the fray simultaneously in the Karnataka assembly polls are from the border district of Belgavi.
The husband and wife have both been fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While Shashikala Jolle is a sitting member of the outgoing assembly from Nippani and will be seeking re-election, her husband Annasaheb Jolle will contest the Chikkodi-Sadagala seat.
The Jolles run a clutch of educational institutions, a credit cooperative society with more than ₹1,000 crore of turnover and several other ventures.
Annasaheb has in the past tried entering the assembly unsuccessfully from Chikkodi.
In the 2013 Karnataka elections, both Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy and his wife Anitha contested assembly seats. Kumaraswamy won and his wife lost.
BENGALURU:
arekoppa Bangarappa (in pic) was the 12th chief minister of Karnataka and a powerful backward class leader. After his death in 2011, members of his family have fought over his legacy. Bangarappa’s sons Kumar and Madhu are bitter rivals in their father’s pocket borough of Soraba. Kumar Bangarappa, running on a Congress ticket, defeated his younger brother, who was contesting on a BJP ticket, in the 2004 assembly elections. Madhu, contesting on a JD(S) ticket, defeated his elder brother, running as a Congress candidate, in 2013. Kumar is now a BJP candidate and is trying to exact revenge on Madhu, who is contesting on a JD(S) ticket. Geetha Shivarajkumar nee Bangarappa, the daughter of the former chief minister,is now supporting younger brother Madhu.