Bengaluru: An Income Tax raid on people closely connected to B S Yediyurappa and his son BY Vijayendra Thursday left the former chief minister fuming. Refusing to react, a red-faced BSY said he will give a proper response at the proper time. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai washed his hands off saying his government had nothing to do with the raids.
The raids also came just weeks after BSY had made a strange statement saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma cannot ensure victory in local elections.
IT officials carried out raids at multiple properties, including those linked to Umesh, Yediyurappa’s personal assistant who was also reportedly close to Vijayendra. Sources in the IT department confirmed to the media that the operation was in connection with tax evasion.
Contractors in the irrigation department were the prime target of the raids, and details were also collected from a few chartered accountants.
There were allegations that Vijayendra was instrumental in awarding contracts in the irrigation department, even bypassing the minister concerned. For this huge sums of money were exchanged, it was alleged. All this happened when BSY was the CM.
The sources said the raids took place in over 50 places across Bengaluru, Bagalkote, Belagavi, Vijayapura and Davangere.
What needs flagging is that BSY and his son had conspicuously kept away from campaigning for local elections.
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