RAID AT HOTEL WHEN K’TAKA CM PRESENT

BENGALURU: Raids were conducted at a hotel in Hubballi city in Karnataka late on Monday night, where chief minister HD Kumaraswamy was staying at the time. With the Kundgol and Chincholi assembly seats set to go to bypolls on May 19, the Congress has claimed that the raids were politically motivated. Confirming the chief minister’s presence at the hotel at the time of the raids, a senior party official said Kumaraswamy and other leaders of the ruling Congress-jd(s) coalition were in Hubballi to campaign for the Kundgol bypoll. While initially it was reported that the raids were conducted by the Income Tax Department, an I-T department official clarified that the flying squads of the Election Commission had carried out the raids. “Based on a tip-off, a flying squad carried out searches on the premises,” a senior I-T official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official added there was a suspicion that money was being held in the hotel.