IT raids: Rs 42 cr recovered from prez of contractors assn

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: At least five locations belonging to prominent contractors in the city were among those who were raided by the Income Tax (IT) sleuths in the last two days.

During the raid, the IT sleuths are said to have recovered around 42 crores in cash apart from several documents from a flat associated with R Ambikapathy who is the president of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Contractors’ Association, and vice-president of Karnataka Contractors’ Association.

While IT officials have not revealed the exact amount of cash that was recovered, sources told News Trail that the cash was found packed in around 23 carton boxes hidden under the bed inside the flat.

It is said that Ambikapathy and his family had vacated this flat in Sultanpalya, in January 2022 and had moved to a new house in Manyata Tech Park.

The family had also taken on lease one floor in another building in Sultanpalya while another floor was rented out to a tenant. Ambikapathy was reportedly operating from the leased premises.

The IT officials later conducted searches at his new house near Manyata Tech Park. As the raids continued on Friday morning, it was suspected that Ambikapathy was planning to move out the cash in a car to Tamil Nadu packed in grocery bags and boxes.

It is worth noting that Ambikapathy’s wife Ashwathamma was an elected corporator in 1995 and she is the elder sister of former MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy who was denied a Congress ticket in the last Assembly election.

The IT officials suspected that the seized cash was somehow meant for election expenses. It is also being said that the cash was part of the 5.5 percent commission to be paid for release of pending dues to BBMP contractors.

Since last week, IT officials have been raiding different places in and around Bengaluru including Mullur near Sarjapur, RMV Extension, BEL Circle, Malleswaram, Dollars Colony, Sadashivanagar, and Mattikeri.

The multifaceted nature of this investigation underscores its scope and complexity, making it one of the most highprofile income tax raids in recent memory. Following the seizure, the IT sleuths have taken Ambikapathy's brother Pradeep into custody for questioning.

When asked, the State Contractors Association President A Kempanna, on Friday, clarified that Ambikapathy was not involved in any contract works for eight years and that he had several other businesses, involving agriculture and stone crushing.

BJP DEMANDS PROBE

BJP leader and MLC N Ravi Kumar, speaking to reporters, claimed that the cash recovered from the contractor's property have a value of Rs 42 crore, and that the currency notes are of Rs 500 denomination and were stored in 23 boxes.

Word is going around the city that the money was collected for the Telangana polls, he said, also alleging that it was the money gained as 'commission' to clear Rs 650 crore pending dues of the contractors from the government.

Ravi Kumar demanded a probe into it. Several other BJP leaders have made similar allegations against the ruling Congress.

Rejecting the "baseless" allegations, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "No state (unit of Congress) will ask (for money). We won't give it also... Have you seen it? Have they (BJP members making the allegations) seen it (money given to other states)? What is there to make such false allegations?"

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, reacting to a question on the IT raids, said, "Without politics, IT won't come. It is politics that is happening. We too are aware of what is happening in Chhattisgarh, Telangana and other states. Where BJP is in power, nothing will happen; where BJP is not in power, such things happen.