Bengaluru: B.R. Balakrishnan, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (IT), Bengaluru will face a police probe in connection with the suspicious death of CCD founder V,G, Siddhartha. The note, said to be left by Siddhartha, before he ended life makes serious allegations of harassment to him. Balakrishnan, will not have immunity as a government servant since he retired on Wednesday.
Sources say Balakrishna, who was in the eye of storm for handling Siddhartha’s case, was calm and received farewell greetings of staff and subordinates. He confided with his friends that he has just done his duty. The special team from Mangalore, stationed in Bengaluru to collect information and investigate, will question Balakrishna, police sources confirmed.
The team has begun questioning persons close to Siddhartha. The investigation will pick up pace once family members return from the funeral, the sources said. The team will also question the income tax officials in connection with the case.
Balakrishnan was accused of ‘tax terrorism’ on opposition parties favoring BJP. Former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy had attacked him for targeting him and cabinet colleagues.
Hawala: IT had clinching evidence?
Sources said that even as Siddhartha confessed to having unaccounted-for cash and finding ways of rectifying it, the IT department was 'one sided' in his investigation and did not give a breather to the man who has created 50,000 jobs in the country. The IT department had allegedly seized crucial properties owned by Siddhartha, which had direct bearing on financial transaction of his companies.
IT officers have also repeatedly called him for investigation and grilled him. The grilling on hawala transactions from outside countries broke him and sent him into a depression.
Sources say that, IT had got clinching evidence on hawala transactions against the ill fated businessman who rose to extraordinary heights from an ordinary background.
However, former chief minister Siddaramaiah's tweet holding IT department responsible for the tragedy and his demand for proper investigation into the case on the line of politically motivated and planned harassment can only reveal the truth.
