Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Mar 24: Income Tax (IT) department is going to seize benami properties worth Rs 75 crore belonging to water resources minister of the state D K Shivakumar.

Disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 429.32 crore were unearthed by the IT department during the raid on the minister.

"The legal process of prosecution of D K Shivakumar will begin soon," said Balakrishna B R, principal chief commissioner of Income Tax and director general (investigation), Karnataka and Goa region in a press conference.

Balakrishna further said, "It is established through investigation that the property was bought in the name of others. The IT department will seize the land and the matter will be investigated by different tribunals set up for the same purpose. But the prosecution of the minister is yet to begin.

According to certain sources the benami property in question was bought in the name of mother of DKS and it consists of a building and a plot of land.

The IT commissioner also clarified that Rs 1.57 crore is recovered from a Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) engineer. According to Balakrishnan, the money confiscated was intended to be used for election purpose.

Referring to tax evasion, Balakrishna said that the Investigation Directorate has uncovered Rs 12.268 crore of undeclared tax amount of which Rs 5,339 crore is already agreed by the violators.

He further said that in the current fiscal year, the directorate has unearthed an income of Rs 4,711 crore till end of February which was not disclosed in 144 search cases in addition to the detection of Rs 7,098 crore of undisclosed income.