NEW DELHI / BENGALURU: Income tax searches on Karnataka minister D K Shivakumar+ on Wednesday morning sparked a fierce political row with the Congress accusing the Centre of using state agencies to harass opponents and the government hitting back, saying tax evaders could not claim immunity.

I-T department sources said as many as 60 locations were searched and Rs 10 crore in cash recovered+ — Rs 7.5 crore from Shivakumar’s residence in Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave and Rs 2.5 crore from Bengaluru — while the sleuths are going through documents recovered from multiple locations.

The government denied initial reports that the raid was aimed at Shivakumar’s Eagleton Resort, near Bengaluru, where Congress MLAs from Gujarat have been lodged to prevent them from switching loyalties ahead of a politically prestigious Rajya Sabha Election which Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, is contesting. Six Congress MLAs have already resigned, rendering Patel’s task of retaining his seat somewhat difficult.

Responding to Congress leader Anand Sharma‘s charge that agencies were being “used and abused” to target political rivals and that Shivakumar had been picked on as he was hosting the MLAs, finance minister Arun Jaitley said the I-T action was against the state energy minister and not the legislators+ .

Jaitley said the I-T team had gone to Eagleton Resort as Shivakumar was present there and was destroying documents crucial for the probe and, therefore, had to be brought to his Bengaluru residence for questioning. He denied that the timing was dictated by political events, saying, “A particular individual was to be searched… He had gone and parked himself in that resort.”

Sharma insisted that it had become a trend to “brazenly abuse” state power and that the timing was important as Shivakumar was coordinating the safety and stay of the MLAs. Leader of the opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad chipped in to say that the Rajya Sabha election had been vitiated by fear and would not be fair. Congress leaders raised the issue in a similar manner in the Lok Sabha as well.

The tax officials also conducted 25 surveys on firms and associates of the minister. “The searches were planned much in advance and recoveries of huge cash were based on specific information and would not have been possible if delayed,” a top income tax official said, refuting claims that the raids smacked of political vendetta. Officials also said 39 locations could not be raided in a hurry and required months of preparations.

I-T department officials in Bengaluru said 60 locations across Karnataka, New Delhi and Chennai were raided from 7am on Wednesday. “We have raided 60 locations across the country, of which 39 search and seizure warrants were issued in Karnataka,” an I-T department official said. The raids were based on the “diarygate” scandal where a diary seized from Karnataka MLC K Govindraju mentioned Shivakumar’s name under the abbreviation of “DKS”.

A search was also conducted at the residence and lockers of Shivakumar’s sister-in-law where officials allegedly recovered huge stash of jewellery belonging to his wife.

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