Tax raids conducted on Karnataka minister's house in Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Aug 2 : Income Tax (IT) sleuths on Wednesday began conducting raids at the official residence of Karnataka Power Minister D.K. Shivakumar and at a private resort near here where 44 Congress lawmakers from Gujarat are staying, informed an official.

"Yes, raids are underway at the Minister's house and the resort. Our teams have gone to search the places," a senior tax officer told IANS on condition of anonymity.

Raid was also being conducted at the house of Congress lawmaker N. Ravi in the city's southern suburb.

"As the searches are on, we cannot give details now. We are not authorised to brief media about such things. Our officers will brief," added the official.

A representative of Eagleton Golf Resort declined to confirm if IT raids were conducted in the 35 deluxe rooms where the Gujarat Congress MLAs have been staying since Saturday.

The Congress legislators were flown to Bengaluru from Ahmedabad and lodged in the posh resort at Bidadi, about 30 km from here, ostensibly to prevent the BJP from poaching them ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha by-poll in which its senior leader Ahmed Patel is contesting for the fifth term from Gujarat.