Reportedly days before Uttara Kannada district goes to polls, Karnataka Election officials and Income Tax officials have jointly seized more than Rs 80 lakh cash from the homes and vehicles of two BJP functionaries in the constituency. Apparently this is the first major raid conducted on BJP leaders in the run-up to the elections.
Previously on Monday, Uttara Kannada BJP General Secretary Krishna Rama Devadiga was caught travelling with Rs 9,20,000 in envelopes that contained Rs 5,000 each. Meanwhile officials suspect that the envelopes were meant to be distributed to voters at the booth level. Furthermore flying Squad and Income Tax officials were then tipped off that other BJP functionaries could be hoarding money as well.
Moreover the residence of Ramakanth V Hegde, a local BJP leader and taluk panchayat president from Sirsi was subsequently raided and Rs 71 lakh in cash was seized and the residence of KG Naik, Uttara Kannada BJP President, was also searched. Apparently official in the Election Commission refused to comment whether the BJP leaders, whose houses were raided, had links to Union Minister and five time MP Anantkumar Hegde. Perhaps the raid on the BJP leaders occurred around the same time Income Tax officials conducted search and seizure operations at the residences of the associates of Janata Dal (Secular) leader and Public Works Department (PWD) Minister HD Revanna. Revanna's son, Prajwal Revanna, is contesting the elections as the JD(S) candidate from Hassan.
