For the second times in the last three months the Income-tax department raided the office and home of Chartered Accountant HB Sunil in Kumara Park (West), who is a close aide and the accountant to the Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, reports Bangalore Mirror.
Although the raids started on Tuesday, sources said that Sunil was not allowed to leave his office till late in the evening on Wednesday. A Bangalore Mirror photojournalist reported of some activities in Sunil’s office, though all the lights were switched off and the gates locked.
Opindia.com spoke to the Deputy Commissioner of the department who confirmed that the raid was conducted and furthered that the department is yet to release a press note throwing light on the operation, which might be done today, later in the afternoon.
HB Sunil is said to be a trusted aide to Kumaraswamy and handles all investments made by him, his wife, Anitha Kumaraswamy who runs a TV channel named Kasturi channel and had declared assets of Rs 36 crore in 2013, and his son Nikhil’s investments also. He is even said to have handled the JD(S) party fund mobilized by Kumaraswamy during the Assembly polls.
A senior police officer, not wishing to be named, said that Sunil and one of the Chief Minister’s assistants were under the I-T radar for some time now. In fact, the officer confirmed of alerting the CM’s assistant of ‘possible raids’ by the income-tax department. Sources said that the CM’s assistant is yet to be questioned.
Sources, however, denied media reports that the Income Tax raids at Sunil’s office had anything to do with the CM and said that the chartered accountant’s premises were searched on Tuesday as part of the I-T department’s “ongoing” search and seizure operations of a multinational property developer in Bengaluru.
Several Congress leaders including DK Shivakumar, who was hailed as the ‘man of the match’ for his money and manpower which played a pivotal role in the JDS-Congress alliance government in Karnataka, and close confidantes of KJ George, MB Patil, and HC Mahadevappa have been raided by the income tax officials in recent times.
