IT sleuths found no cash during raids: Karnataka minister Ramesh Jarkiholi

Belagavi: A few days after the Income Tax Department raided the benami properties and assets of Small Scale Industries Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, the latter caustically remarked, “An entire state cabinet would become empty if all ministers raided by the IT department were to resign.”

Reacting to media reports on the raids, the minister gave enough indication that he would not resign and declined to comment further on the raids stating that his legal advisors were dealing with the issue. In a press note, Mr Jarkiholi described the information given by IT officials to the media that an indisclosed income of Rs 162 crore was found by them during the raid on his residences and offices as totally false and said, “Details of cash or valuables which IT officials claimed to have seized during the raid also are false, no cash or valuables were found by them. The IT officials provided wrong information to the media about the raid.”

During the raids conducted from January 19 to 21, IT officials actually found assets worth Rs 115 crore which included Rs 80 crore worth assets of his sugar factory and Rs 35 crore that belonged to various deals of the factory. 

The entire asset pertain only to the sugar factory and were not earned via benami deals, said Mr Jarkiholi adding that he had declared a total income of Rs 115 crore to the IT officials who raided him.

Also denying IT Departments claims that funds were diverted from cooperative institutions fradulently by him, the minister said, the entire transaction was done through cooperative banks legally.    

Authentic documents related to 8-kg gold and Rs 20 lakh in cash found at the residence of Lakhan Jarkiholi were given to the IT officials, he said, adding that though he also produced documents for 4.5 kg of gold found in his sister's residence during the raid, the officials needlessly issued false statements.

Assuring that he would provide details of the IT raids to both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president Dr G Parameshwar, the minister said the raids had not tarnished his image at all.