I-T sleuths who came in several vehicles during the pre-dawn hours knocked on Puttaraju’s houses at his native Chinukarali in Pandavapura taluk and also in Pandavapura town. The house of his nephew Ashok, a Class One contractor at Vijayanagar in Mysuru city, was raided too.
The house of a businessman, who runs a popcorn business, were also raided late last night in Bengaluru and as per sources, these raids will continue.
Another source said that there was a high possibility of a state minister facing I-T raids later in the day.
The raids sparked protests by Puttaraju’s followers who had gathered at Chinakurali.
Speaking to media, a peeved Puttaraju said the raids were politically targeting JDS leaders. He also blamed independent candidate from Mandya LS seat Sumalatha Ambareesh.
Puttaraju is in the coterie of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and he is also handling the campaign of the latter’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy who is contesting LS polls from Mandya as JD(S)-Congress’ consensus candidate.
The development came a day after Kumaraswamy raised fears about possible raids on Congress and JDS functionaries in the state.
He had claimed that CRPF personnel were brought from various parts of the country to carry out the raids in the state.
Raids on Congress and JDS leaders can take place early Thursday morning using CRPF jawans instead of taking the help of the Karnataka Police in order to maintain secrecy, Kumaraswamy had claimed on Wednesday.
“I’m not deterred by the raids, which are election-related. I would like to know which BJP leader’s house in Karnataka has been raided,” Puttaraju, who is the in-charge minister of Mandya district, said.
The JDS has assigned him to oversee the electioneering of HD Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is fighting his maiden election from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat.
Karnataka: Income-Tax raids are underway at residence of JD(S) leader & Karnataka Minor Irrigation Minister CS Puttaraju in Mandya pic.twitter.com/BrEX9LBnOa
— ANI (@ANI) March 28, 2019
The chief minister had Wednesday warned that he would follow what his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee did to counter the ‘misuse’ of central agencies.
Banerjee had staged a “Save the Constitution” dharna from February 3 to 5 in Kolkata after the CBI’s failed bid to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with chit fund cases.
Puttaraju said soon a meeting will be convened where the mode of protest against these raids will be decided.