In a possible embarrassment for the Congress party ahead of the crucial Karnataka polls, the Income Tax department on Friday raided the house of a close aide of Congress candidate Satish Sail:
#Karnataka: Income Tax Department conducted raids at house of Congress candidate Satish Sail’s close associate Mangaldas Kamat in Ankola. pic.twitter.com/mqeMPpyDNo
— ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2018
The raided house of Mangaldas Kamat is situated in Karnataka’s town of Ankola.
As per a NewsX report, Sail is a candidate for the Congress party from Karwar and has gone to jail in the past despite which he was given a ticket by Rahul Gandhi’s party. The report though didn’t shed light on the reasons for IT raid, and it raises the question whether it was in any way connected to the Congress leader.
As reported by The Hindu in 2013, Sail who was then an Independent MLA from Karwar was arrested by the CBI in connection with an illegal iron ore case. It was alleged that Sail’s company Mallikarjun Shipping Private Ltd and others, had exported 80 lakh tonnes of illicit ore from Uttar Kannada district’s Belekeri port between January 2009 and May 2010. The report also indicated that Sail used to be a Congress leader before becoming an independent MLA.
Come April 2018, Times of India reported that Sail was quizzed by a Goa police’s special investigative team (SIT), with regards to a Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam unearthed in the state. The police specifically questioned him about illegal iron ore mining in the state from 2007 to 2012.
The raid on Sail’s aide comes after a tough week for the Congress party, where it has been embroiled in serious controversies.
The police on Wednesday filed a case against 14 individuals including a sitting Congress MLA N Munirathna and party candidate, in connection with the recovery of 10,000 voter ID cards from a Bangalore apartment. The plot had thickened when it was reported that business cards and pamphlets of Munirathna were also discovered at a flat. Under this controversy, Republic TV has quoted a tout who has alleged that she collected the voter cards for the Congress MLA.
