Did G Parameshwara siphon off money via educational institutes? I-T searches probe

IT Raids

I-T sleuths suspect that Dr G Parameshwara is in possession of undisclosed income worth crores that he gained via the various educational institutions that he runs.

Theja Ram

The Income Tax Department on Friday stated that they had unearthed ‘malicious allotment of seats in exchange of cash’ during the search and seizure operations carried out on Thursday at multiple properties belonging to former Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara and Congress leader RL Jalappa. “The Income Tax Department conducted search on 9th October 2019 on a prominent business group in Karnataka which runs multiple educational institutions. During the course of the search, the modus operandi of conversion of seats which were originally to be allotted by merit through counselling by MCC maliciously into institutional quota seats through dropout system has been unearthed,” reads a press release issued by the Commissioner of Income Tax, Surabhi Ahluwalia. “Incriminating evidence has been found in the search, substantiating conversion of seats, commission payments to brokers and sale of seats in exchange for receipt of cash,” the release adds. I-T sleuths raided the premises of the degree, engineering and medical colleges belonging to Siddhartha Group of Institutions. I-T sleuths suspect that crores of rupees were allegedly siphoned off by charging huge amounts for medical, dental and engineering seats under the management quota. “Hawala transactions relating to movement of such cash have also been established. A total of Rs 4.22 crore of unaccounted cash has so far been found including Rs 89 lakh in the house of the main trustee,” adds the release. The sleuths from the Income Tax Department are also carrying out search and seizure operations at the medical college in Nelamangala belonging to veteran Congress leader RL Jalappa. The officials also searched the residences of Jalappa's son Rajendra and his nephew GH Nagaraj in Karnataka's Chikkaballapura. Sources say the I-T sleuths received a tip-off regarding alleged discrepancies in the income shown in the books of RL Jalappa Hospital, where Nagaraj is the director. Reacting to the raids, Congress leader and former MP from Ballari, VS Ugrappa said that the raids are politically motivated. Speaking to the media in Bengaluru, Ugrappa alleged that the BJP's national leadership had in the past too ensured that Income Tax raids were conducted on the properties belonging to Congress leaders ahead of elections. "Before the Lok Sabha elections, the Income Tax officials had raided the home of CS Puttaraju, the Melukote MLA. Raids were conducted in Hassan and Mysuru also at the homes of opposition leaders. Now the bye-elections are coming up and they are conducting raids on our leaders again. Ahead of Rajya Sabha elections, DK Shivakumar's properties were raided. We can all see the pattern and if it is not politically motivated, then what is it?" Ugrappa questioned. Responding to the raids, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka G Parameshwara had said, "Let them conduct the raids. I have nothing to hide. If they find anything out of order, then we have to submit to the law right. Let them search."

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Did G Parameshwara siphon off money via educational institutes? I-T searches probe

IT Raids

I-T sleuths suspect that Dr G Parameshwara is in possession of undisclosed income worth crores that he gained via the various educational institutions that he runs.

Theja Ram

The Income Tax Department on Friday stated that they had unearthed ‘malicious allotment of seats in exchange of cash’ during the search and seizure operations carried out on Thursday at multiple properties belonging to former Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara and Congress leader RL Jalappa. “The Income Tax Department conducted search on 9th October 2019 on a prominent business group in Karnataka which runs multiple educational institutions. During the course of the search, the modus operandi of conversion of seats which were originally to be allotted by merit through counselling by MCC maliciously into institutional quota seats through dropout system has been unearthed,” reads a press release issued by the Commissioner of Income Tax, Surabhi Ahluwalia. “Incriminating evidence has been found in the search, substantiating conversion of seats, commission payments to brokers and sale of seats in exchange for receipt of cash,” the release adds. I-T sleuths raided the premises of the degree, engineering and medical colleges belonging to Siddhartha Group of Institutions. I-T sleuths suspect that crores of rupees were allegedly siphoned off by charging huge amounts for medical, dental and engineering seats under the management quota. “Hawala transactions relating to movement of such cash have also been established. A total of Rs 4.22 crore of unaccounted cash has so far been found including Rs 89 lakh in the house of the main trustee,” adds the release. The sleuths from the Income Tax Department are also carrying out search and seizure operations at the medical college in Nelamangala belonging to veteran Congress leader RL Jalappa. The officials also searched the residences of Jalappa's son Rajendra and his nephew GH Nagaraj in Karnataka's Chikkaballapura. Sources say the I-T sleuths received a tip-off regarding alleged discrepancies in the income shown in the books of RL Jalappa Hospital, where Nagaraj is the director. Reacting to the raids, Congress leader and former MP from Ballari, VS Ugrappa said that the raids are politically motivated. Speaking to the media in Bengaluru, Ugrappa alleged that the BJP's national leadership had in the past too ensured that Income Tax raids were conducted on the properties belonging to Congress leaders ahead of elections. "Before the Lok Sabha elections, the Income Tax officials had raided the home of CS Puttaraju, the Melukote MLA. Raids were conducted in Hassan and Mysuru also at the homes of opposition leaders. Now the bye-elections are coming up and they are conducting raids on our leaders again. Ahead of Rajya Sabha elections, DK Shivakumar's properties were raided. We can all see the pattern and if it is not politically motivated, then what is it?" Ugrappa questioned. Responding to the raids, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka G Parameshwara had said, "Let them conduct the raids. I have nothing to hide. If they find anything out of order, then we have to submit to the law right. Let them search."

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Three days on, tiger in Karnataka's Bandipur that killed a farmer remains elusive

Wildlife

The search operation is being conducted by the forest guards as per the guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority

IANS

Joseph Hoover

The killer tiger in Karnataka's Bandipur reserve forest continues to elude the state guards as the hunt to capture it entered the third day on Friday. "No sign of the tiger yet as it does not remain at one place. Hundreds of wildlife tourists visit Bandipur on safari but see a tiger once or twice as they are not easy to spot in a dense forest. We are doing camera trapping to locate it (killer tiger) and the hunt is on," state's Principal Chief Conservator (wildlife) Sanjay Mohan told IANS on phone from the forest. The Bandipur tiger reserve, a popular tourist destination in southern India, is an 872 square km reserve forest in Chamarajanagar district on the border with Tamil Nadu. It is about 220 kms southwest of Bengaluru. "We will not be able to comb every inch of the forest for the feline, which is likely to be a male, but the areas it usually frequents," Mohan, who joined the forest guards in the search on Friday, said. The search operation is being conducted by the forest guards as per the guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). "Camera traps will show and we have information on the big cat's movements for the last couple of months. We know where it roams around," Mohan said, adding the search gets difficult if the tiger is hiding in the thickets. Noting that the chances of spotting a tiger on the move were better, the official said if the animal remained still at one spot or hiding, it would be hard to locate it, as the guards' movements are blocked in a thick jungle. "We can't chop all the forest to find the tiger. Only when it moves around, we can see it and try to capture it," Mohan pointed out. Shivappa was the second victim of the big cat, which turned a man-eater two months ago when it claimed its first victim, identified as Shivamadaiah, in the same area in mid-September when he was returning to his village with two bullocks from another village. Surprisingly, no tiger in Bandipur was radio tagged, a scientific method of tracking wild animals round the clock. "Radio tagging is done for experiments or studying the behaviour of animals like tiger and how they live in their home range or protected area," added Mohan.

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Ban on cameras in Karnataka Assembly: BJP national leadership's call, say sources

Politics

BJP sources say that several state leaders too were in favour of the ban.

Theja Ram

Just a day ahead of the Karnataka state Assembly's three-day session, the Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri imposed a ban on broadcast and photojournalists from videotaping and photographing the proceedings inside the House. The abrupt decision made by the Speaker has raised questions regarding the government's decision to clamp down on the media. BJP sources close to state President Nalin Kumar Kateel and also Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa say that the decision to impose the ban came from the leadership in New Delhi. "It was [BJP general secretary] BL Santosh who instructed the Speaker to follow the model that is currently in practise in the Parliament. The national leadership is adamant that this ban will not be revoked," the source said.  BJP insiders say that the decision comes in the wake of several state leaders requesting the national leaders to not allow television cameras inside the Assembly. A source close to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that the party does not want a repeat of the 2012 incident involving Laxman Savadi, the then MLA from Athani in Belagavi, who was caught watching porn inside the Assembly. The video was captured by a cameraperson of a local media channel.  "Many state leaders agreed that such instances must not repeat again. The cameras installed for recording proceedings is there and journalists can take the footage from the Assembly's output unit. This way, only footage of those leaders who speak inside the Assembly will be recorded and this can be telecast," the source added.  Several opposition leaders were also in agreement with the proposal, sources claimed. "Informally, several JD(S) leaders, especially HD Kumaraswamy had supported this. When leaders are sleeping or doing something else, that gets captured. A few Congress leaders too wanted the ban to be imposed," the source added.  On Thursday, a group of journalists from regional and national news organisations met the Karnataka Speaker. In spite of the group expressing concern about the ban on videography in the Assembly, Speaker Vishweshwar refused to review the decision made for the ongoing winter session of the Assembly. The journalists also held a protest at Bengaluru's Maurya Circle on Friday condemning the Speaker's decision. The Speaker, however, told the journalists that the ban on videography is experimental and temporary. On Thursday, the Chief Minister's Office tweeted from its official handle stating that Yediyurappa would request the Speaker to revoke the ban. However, a few hours later, the tweet was deleted.  Sources with the BJP say that the tweet was deleted because Yediyurappa's statement could have given the media the impression of infighting within the BJP. "His statement was against party dictates so the tweet was taken down," the source added.  

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'This must be resisted': Karnataka journalists protest ban on TV cameras in Assembly

Journalists held a protest at the Gandhi Statue in Maurya Circle in Bengaluru on Friday morning.

Prajwal Bhat

Journalists belonging to regional and national news organisations held a protest against Karnataka Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri's decision to ban TV channels from taking photos and videos of proceedings in the Assembly. The protest was held at the Gandhi Statue in Maurya Circle in Bengaluru on Friday morning.  It was attended by print, digital and television journalists working in the state including a number of photographers and videographers who will be directly affected by the decision. A photographer was also seen blindfolded while holding a camera.  "We cannot be fools to believe that the decision will be reversed because of the opposition against it. The question is not about whether the Chief Minister or the Speaker has taken the decision. We need to understand about where this idea that the Vidhana Soudha and the Assembly is a place where politicians can take unilateral decisions is coming from," HR Ranganath, Managing Editor of Public TV, a Kannada news channel, said at the protest.  He said that politicians are eager to ensure that the news that portrays them or their party in good light should only be published. "This eagerness is increasing every day and politicians want to present a packaged news bulletin to journalists. This must be resisted not only today but also going forward," Ranganath added. Hariprakash Konemane, editor of Vijay Karnataka, a Kannada language daily newspaper, stated that this decision will be used as a precedent to take unilateral decisions. "In the first stage, TV cameras are banned from Assembly. This will be used as a precedent in the future. We have taken a stand against this in today's edition of Vijay Karnataka in which we have published a blank picture instead of a photograph on our story on this issue," he said. The protest was supported by opposition leaders from the JD(S) and Congress. Former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy was present during the protest while former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed his support for the protest. The protesters referenced the incident which occurred in 2012 of television news channels capturing footage of the then Karnataka MLA and minister Laxman Savadi watching porn inside the Assembly. The incident caused an uproar following which Laxman was forced to resign from his position as minister. He is currently the Deputy Chief Minister and the Minister of Transport in the state.  The winter session of the Karnataka Assembly began on Thursday and is set to continue till Saturday. The ban on television cameras inside the Assembly is currently in place and the Speaker has stated that this is on an experimental basis.  Congress leader Sowmya Reddy raised alarm about the decision stating that Opposition leaders who spoke about the state government's handling of flood relief measures were not highlighted on Thursday.  "TV channels have been banned since today at the assembly. Today when we (opposition) spoke against government’s failure to handle flood relief, there was no focus on us but guess who? Yes, only the speaker or the CM or anyone from the ruling party. That’s why the media gag!", she said in a social media post.  Outside tv media has been banned since today at the assembly! Today when we (opposition) spoke against Govt’s failure to handle flood relief, there was no focus on us but guess who? Yes, only the speaker or the CM or anyone from the ruling party. That’s why the media gag! 2/n — Sowmya Reddy (@Sowmyareddyr) October 10, 2019 "What’s the responsibility of a healthy opposition? Isn’t that our job to speak up for the people of our state! To ensure we ensure the government is doing its job properly! If our voices inside the assembly can’t be heard outside to people then isn’t this death of democracy," she added. What’s the responsibility of a healthy opposition ? Isn’t that our job to speak up for the people of our state! To ensure we ensure the government is doing its job properly! If our voices inside the assembly can’t be heard outside to people then isn’t this death of democracy!!! — Sowmya Reddy (@Sowmyareddyr) October 10, 2019 Opposition leaders and journalists stated that they will continue their protest until the ban on television cameras is lifted. Around 50 journalists from print, digital and television news organisations, including from both regional and national organisations, have petitioned the Speaker to review his decision. The Speaker will consider the petition after the current legislature session in the Assembly is completed.   

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