The son of the contractor whose properties were raided by the Income Tax (I-T) Department during which a large amount of cash, said to be over ₹40 crore, was recovered, has claimed the money was his own, which came from a land sale deal and he would explain to the I-T sleuths soon.
The I-T sleuths had raided premises linked to R. Ambikapathy, vice-president of Karnataka State Contractors’ Association and president of BBMP Contractors’ Association, and are said to have recovered over ₹40 crore in cash. The raids that began on Thursday evening concluded on Saturday morning. The I-T sleuths have deposited the huge amount of cash in a State Bank of India (SBI) safe and recovered several documents, gold ornaments among other valuables, according to sources.
A. Pradeep, son of Mr. Ambikapathy, claimed that the raid was against him and his company that has been active in real estate for over 15 years now. He claimed that the recovered cash had nothing to do with his father.
“Do not drag my father into this. The Income Tax Department has served me notice to appear before them on October 17. I will explain to them the source of the money found in the house. We had sold a piece of land and the money was related to that. I have all the documents to substantiate this, which I will submit to the department on Tuesday and get everything cleared,” he told mediapersons on Saturday, after the search and seizure operations concluded.
‘Commission collection centre’
Meanwhile, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded that the case be probed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
“The very fact that over ₹40 crore has been found at a house linked to a contractor days after the State government cleared bills worth ₹650 crore is an indication of kickbacks to clear bills. The Karnataka State Contractors’ Association made baseless allegations against our government of taking 40% commission. But now it looks like the association has itself become a commission collection centre. This needs to be probed,” said former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Another senior BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa also demanded a CBI probe into the case and said only such a probe would bring out the role of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar in the “scam”. He alleged the money now recovered were proceeds of corruption and was being used to fund elections in five States.
‘Talking like I-T dept’
However, Mr. Shivakumar said that BJP and JD(S) were jumping the gun and talking like spokespersons for the Income Tax Department. “Are BJP and JD(S) leaders part of the I-T Department? Let the department first come out with facts of the case,” he said.
The I-T Department, meanwhile, continued to be tight-lipped about the case and has refused to give out any details so far.
