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Months after former Union Minister and former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), income tax (I-T) authorities conducted search and seizure operations on his son-in-law VG Siddharth, a businessman and owner of the popular Café Coffee Day (CCD) chain and a major investor in software services firm MindTree.
The I-T operations, which commenced early Wednesday morning, were conducted at multiple places in Bengaluru, Hassan, Chikmagalur, Chennai, and Mumbai.
Siddharth has business interests in information technology, logistics, coffee plantation, financial consultancy (Way2Wealth) and hospitality.
According to I-T department sources, the operations were carried out in more than 25 premises belonging to Siddharth. I-T sleuths also said operations were conducted in relation to a new case to verify if there was any undisclosed income and not related to any of the past cases.
Siddharth is the elder son-in-law of Krishna, and is known to keep a low profile. He is a first-generation entrepreneur from Chikmagalur.
A statement from Coffee Day Enterprises said, “Income Tax officials have visited our premises. Coffee Day Enterprises is a responsible corporate following all norms of corporate governance. We continue to comply with (the) laws of land and will extend all co-operation with the concerned authority.”
Today’s I-T operations come after a series of similar operations conducted on high-profile Congress party politicians such as DK Shivakumar, who was a long-time protégé of Krishna.
Political implications Observers in Bengaluru are questioning the timing of the I-T operations as it comes when the BJP’s internal equations are not at their best. Currently, it is also grappling with the question of giving separate religious status to Lingayats. These operations against Krishna’s son-in-law come at time when the party is struggling to get a foothold in the Vokkaliga-dominated areas ahead of the Assembly polls in early 2018.
However, some in the BJP maintain that the I-T operations were part of the official process. They insisted that it should not be seen through a political prism.
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