Reacting to the recovery of huge amounts of cash during IT department raids in Karnataka, the state Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the Bharatiya Janata Party is behind the corruption and the BJP is the foundation of corruption.
"Entire corruption is by BJP only. BJP is the foundation of corruption, that's why the people of Karnataka threw them away. Money that has been found, is linked to BJP leaders and it is nowhere connected to the Congress government," he added.
Earlier, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday targeted Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi after Income Tax sleuths recovered more than Rs 50 crore cash during raids in Karnataka. The raids were conducted against several people including a contractor, his son, a gymnasium instructor and an architect in Karnataka.
"It's a huge thing that approx Rs 50 crores in cash was seized. This is Congress for cash, for corruption. Rahul Gandhi, will you remain silent on this," Prasad asks Gandhi.
Raids at several places
The raids that started on Thursday at 25 places belonging to two major infrastructure companies expanded to 45 by Saturday evening, the official said, requesting anonymity. Charging them with tax evasion, the I-T Department officials raided their offices at various places including Sahakarnagar and Sanjaynagar. Several documents were confiscated.
"A total of 45 locations were searched till Friday while ten more places were raided and searched on Saturday," the official said, "On Saturday, the third day of the operation, an architect and a gymnasium owner's house was raided from where Rs eight crore in cash was seized. With this, the total amount of cash seized has crossed Rs 50 crore," he added.
Rs 94 crore in cash seized on Monday
In another round of raids, the IT team seized Rs 94 crore in cash as well as gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 8 crore and 30 luxury watches following raids on government contractors and real estate developers in Karnataka and some other states.
(With inputs from agencies)
