I-T raids continue at D K Shivakumar’s properties; over 40 locations searched

News Network
August 3, 2017

Bengaluru, Aug 3: Income Tax department officials continued for the second day on Thursday their raids on properties linked to Karnataka energy minister DK Shivakumar, who is in charge of hosting Congress MLAs from Gujarat shifted outside to avoid a break in their ranks.

Officials said in Karnataka alone 39 locations were being searched, in addition to some in Chennai and Delhi. Media reports identified the Delhi properties to be located in Safdarjung and RK Puram.

According to sources, cash was recovered since the searches began at 7am on Wednesday, but there was no indication of the value. The department has not officially confirmed if it retrieved cash.

The raids on Shivakumar escalated into a political confrontation between his Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress raised the issue in parliament, forcing multiple adjournments in the upper house, and the BJP of carrying out “an unprecedented witch-hunt”.

The Congress legislators taken to Karnataka are crucial for the party’s prospects in a close Rajya Sabha election scheduled next week in which Ahmed Patel, the political secretary to party president Sonia Gandhi, is seeking re-election.

The party saw a string of defections from its Gujarat cadre, prompting it to accuse the BJP of using money and muscle power to gain an advantage in the RS polls.

The raids on Shivakumar triggered protests by Congress members. On Wednesday, youth Congress leaders protested near Shivakumar’s residence in Bengaluru and outside the I-T office in Mangaluru.

Senior Congress leaders in the state were quick to condemn the raids, especially the use of paramilitary forces at the residence of the minister.

“I-T raids targeting energy minister D K Shivakumar is completely politically motivated and central government’s role behind it is well known,” chief minister Siddaramaiah said in a statement. He said, “It is not right on the part of central government to use I-T department for its political conspiracies. We will not bow down to such intimidation.”

Comments

Sandesh
 - 
Thursday, 3 Aug 2017

why the IT team is not raiding Adani & patanjali group ?

Gopal
 - 
Thursday, 3 Aug 2017

BJP is turning India into a dictatorial regime. When BJP can't horse trade MLAs,
let's raid where they are staying.

Truth
 - 
Thursday, 3 Aug 2017

I am surprised that there is no mention in the article about the huge cash seized
in the raid.

Anmol
 - 
Thursday, 3 Aug 2017

BJP is using official machinery to serve their political end. People of this country
will teach them a lesson in 2019.

Mohan
 - 
Thursday, 3 Aug 2017

The intention of the BJP is to tarnish the image of the Congress leaders . People
are watching the game and it will be reflected in the election provided the voting
machines are not tampered

Naveen
 - 
Thursday, 3 Aug 2017

This is how Modi the tyrant ran Gujarat with the Govt machinery as his
henchmen. Now he has the intelligence,ED,CBI,NIA,IT to harass those who
oppose him.It is a shame that India has been reduced to a banana republic.

Ganesh
 - 
Thursday, 3 Aug 2017

OK. Can staunch supporters of D K Shivakumar explain how IT found 10 crore
at his residence?

Kumar
 - 
Thursday, 3 Aug 2017

The more the raid on politicians and corrupt the better the common man feels

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coastaldigest.com news network
February 14,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 14: In a major embarrassment to the police, the Karnataka High Court has termed as illegal the prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of CrPC by the City Police Commissioner in December 2019 in the light of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Bengaluru.

The orders were passed “without application of mind” and without following due procedures, the court noted. Giving reasons for upholding the arguments of the petitioners that there was no application of mind by the Police Commissioner (Bhaskar Rao) before imposing restrictions, a division bench of the High Court said he had not recorded the reasons, except reproducing the contents of letters addressed to him by the Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs). 

The state government had contended that prohibitory orders were passed based on reports submitted by the DCPs who expressed apprehension about anti-social elements creating law and order problems and damaging public property by taking advantage of the anti-CAA protests.  

The High Court bench said the Police Commissioner should have conducted inquiry as stated by the Supreme Court to check the reasons cited by the DCPs who submitted identical reports. Except for this, there were no facts laid out by the Police Commissioner, the court said.

“There is complete absence of reasons. If the order indicated that the Police Commissioner was satisfied by the apprehension of DCPs, it would have been another matter,” it said.  

“The apex court has held that it must record the reasons for imposition of restrictions and there has to be a formation of opinion by the district magistrate. Only then can  the extraordinary powers conferred on the district magistrate can be exercised. This procedure was not followed. Hence, exercise of power under Section 144 by the commissioner, as district magistrate, was not at all legal”, the bench said. 

“We hold that the order dated December 18, 2019 is illegal and cannot stand judicial scrutiny in terms of the apex court’s orders in the Ramlila Maidan case and Anuradha Bhasin case,” the HC bench said while upholding the arguments of Prof Ravivarma Kumar, who appeared for some of the petitioners.   

Partly allowing a batch of public interest petitions questioning the imposition of prohibitory orders and cancelling the permission granted for protesters in the city, the bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar observed that, unfortunately, in the present case, there was no indication of application of mind in passing prohibitory orders.

The bench said the observation was confined to this order only and it cannot be applicable in general. If there is a similar situation (necessitating imposition of restrictions), the state is not helpless, the court said.

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News Network
May 23,2020

Bengaluru, May 23: The Karnataka government on Friday said returnees from six states with high COVID-19 cases will be kept in institutional quarantine for seven days.

The states are - Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

As per the standard operating procedure released by the government, all people to arrive via rain, air road are expected to quarantine.

After they test negative for the disease in pool testing, they will be sent for home quarantine for another seven days, the government said.

Returnees from other low prevalence states will be asked to follow 14 days of home quarantine, according to the standard operating procedure (SOP) for entry of persons from other states to Karnataka issued by the state health department late on Friday night.

However home quarantine is allowed for pregnant ladies, people above 80 years, patients with comorbidities and children below 10 years of age, along with one attendant after they test negative.

In special cases like businessmen coming for urgent work, the quarantine period will be waived if they furnish a report from an ICMR-approved laboratory showing they tested negative for COVID-19, it said.

However, if they don't have reports, they will have to stay in institutional quarantine and can leave once their results test negative.

In case their stay exceeds 5 days, they will be sent to the fever clinic and get a five-day extension if found asymptomatic.

The report should not be more than two days old from the date of travel.

All Karnataka returnees who entered from 4 May will be tested from 5-7 days from the time of their arrival.

If found COVID-19 negative, they will be sent to home quarantine and will have to follow due precautions, the SOP stated.

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News Network
April 20,2020

Bengluru, Apr 20: Lockdown restrictions have been extended by a day by the Karnataka government, in an order issued by chief secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar on Sunday.

The order directed all heads of departments, district deputy commissioners and superintendent of policies to "continue to implement the measures presently in force" as per Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines dated April 14, "till the midnight of April 21, 2020."

The MHA guidelines had earlier allowed the state government to relax lockdown norms post-April 20.

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