Senior K’taka minister and Congress leader Shivakumar discharged in two I-T cases

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Mar 01, 2019 : Senior Karnataka minister and Congress leader D K Shivakumar was on Thursday discharged on technical grounds in two cases of income tax evasion and destruction of evidence filed against him by the Income Tax Department in 2018, Yahoonews reported.

 

The court of the 81st additional city civil and sessions judge B V Patil, which exclusively hears cases against elected representatives, granted the relief to the irrigation minister in cases which have their origin in an August 2017 effort by Shivakumar to shelter 42 Congress MLAs from Gujarat from being poached by the BJP ahead of a Rajya Sabha election.

The two cases were filed in February 2018 for offences punishable under Section 276 C (1) of the Income Tax Act ,1961, for tax evasion and Sections 201 and 204 of the Indian Penal Code for causing disappearance and destruction of evidence.

A third case against Shivakumar and four associates is pending trial and was on Thursday posted for hearing on March 15. In this case, he is accused under Section 276C (1) (tax evasion) and 277 (false statement) of Income Tax Act, 1961, and under Section 193 (false evidence) and 199 (false statement in evidence) read with Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.

In the two cases in which Shivakumar was discharged, he was accused of tearing a piece of paper during IT searches that were conducted at Eagleton Resort in Bengaluru in August 2017 while Shivakumar was sheltering the 42 MLAs at the resort.

The main ground on which Shivakumar was discharged in the tax evasion case is the fact that the IT officer who conducted the search at premises belonging to the minister and filed the complaint also assessed the extent of tax evasion in contravention of norms.

"The complainant Sri. Sunil Goutham, DDIT (Inv), Bengaluru being the authorized officer for search who is the complainant in this case has no jurisdiction to estimate the escaped income and assess the interest and penalty on the same,’’ the special court said. "However, the complaint filed by the complainant prima facie discloses that the complainant without jurisdiction, estimated the escaped income of assessee to the tune of Rs.3.14 Crores for the Assessment year 2015-16, Rs 2.56 Crores for Assessment year 2016-17, Rs 7.08 Crores for the Assessment Year 2017-18 and filed the complaint."

On the charge of destruction of evidence against Shivakumar for allegedly tearing a piece of paper from his wallet during the searches, the court observed that the paper did not amount to a legally recognised document.

"Accused is discharged. Liberty is granted for the complainant /I.T. Department to launch prosecution afresh after estimating the undisclosed income of the assessee/accused by the jurisdictional assessing officer on the basis of materials produced by the authorized officers for search and such other materials as are available with him, if warranted," the court said.

After the searches in August 2017, the investigation wing of the I-T Department reported unearthing of Rs 300 crore undisclosed income from the minister and his associates.