₹3 Crore Cash Seized In ED Raids, Probe Widens Into Jarkiholi Family’s Africa Investments

Bengaluru: Bengaluru, Sep 10: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) raid on 18 premises of Karnataka PWD Minister Sathish Jarkiholi and his associates across Bengaluru, Belagavi and Goa has yielded ₹ 3 crore in cash, of which, ₹ 1.2 crore was seized from his daughter and Member of Parliament from Chikkodi Priyanka Jarkiholi.

The ED officials said that the remaining unaccounted cash were seized from the other 17 premises and a large number of documents also have been collected during the raid.

However, the raid remains inconclusive as the ED officials are still checking documents in at least five close associates of Satish Jarkiholi.

According to sources in ED, the unaccounted cash may not be very large compared to the investments and assets possessed by Satish Jarkiholi and his family members. Besides sugar factories in Gokak taluk, the family members have investments in other businesses in Bengaluru, Belagavi and Goa.

However, the ED officials are concentrating more on the investments made by the family members abroad, especially in the African countries like South Africa and Rwanda. The investments are said to have been made in the names of Satish Jarkiholi son Rahul Jarkiholi and sister Lakshmi Jarkiholi, who did not have known sources of income.

The ED is tracking the visit of a Rwanda business delegation that visited Bengaluru in 2024 to boost investment in their country. Interestingly, the entire delegation members visited Vikasa Soudha and held a meeting with Satish Jarkiholi, who was minister for PWD and not investments. The ED believes that the talks were about the Satish Jarkiholi family investing in Rwanda in mining rare metals that are used in manufacturing semiconductors.

Since the ED officials have got some documents on the investment in both South Africa and Rwanda, they are examining the channels through which the investments were made and the people involved in the transactions. The ED is also questioning about the sources of money with Rahul and Lakshmi Jarkiholi and trying to establish that the investments were made through money laundering.