In a huge relief for Karnataka Water Resources Minister and Congress’ troubleshooter-in-chief DK Shivakumar, the special Economic Offences Court in Bengaluru on Saturday accepted his bail petition in the Income Tax case. Shivakumar and three of his co-accused have been asked to furnish a bond of Rs 1 lakh each and Rs 25,000 surety each. The other accused in the case are Sunil Sharma, Anjaneya and Rajendra. 

The case pertains to raids conducted by the Income Tax sleuths and unaccounted cash seized at properties owned by Shivakumar and his aides in New Delhi in August 2017. This is one of the four cases slapped against the veteran politician following the raids that were conducted by I-T officials at Eagleton resort in Bidadi. In the other three cases too, he has got bail.

He is facing charges under sections 276C(1) [wilful tax evasion] and 277 [false statement in verification] of the Income Tax Act. Earlier in August, the minister had secured a temporary stay in the proceedings.

The I-T Department had reportedly filed a case in connection with Rs 4.03 lakh seized from one of the apartments owned by Shivakumar in Safdarjung, New Delhi, which Shivakumar reportedly claimed was agricultural income.

All the four cases were filled against the Congress strongman after the I-T department had raided Shivakumar at the Eagleton Resort in Bidadi and allegedly found Rs 8.5 crore in cash with him in August 2017. Following that, for the next two months, properties connected to him across the country were raided by I-T officials.

Shivakumar was credited with keeping the flock of Gujarat MLAs intact at the resort ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in the state. The BJP was trying to poach Congress MLAs to prevent Ahmed Patel from getting elected to the upper house in Rajya Sabha. 

Following the raids, Shivakumar had received support from his party including then CM SIddaramaiah who termed the raids as political vendetta.