Search conducted in hotels occupied by Congress, JDS leaders
Bengaluru, May 14: An election commission squad, along with income tax and enforcement directorate sleuths, Tuesday carried out searches in two hotels at Hubballi where State minister D K Shivakumar and some Congress and JD(S) leaders were staying.
The sleuths seized from the rooms in the hotels gold utensils and other materials allegedly meant for bribing voters.
The raids were carried out in connection with the bypoll in Kundgol seat which fell vacant following the death of sitting MLA C S Shivalli a few months ago.
According to government sources, the squad carried out searches at the two hotels.
While the search in one hotel was wound up soon, the search in the other lasted longer, Congress party sources said.
Karnataka water resources minister D K Shivakumar (Congress) was staying at one of the hotels when the raid took place.
Speaking to PTI, the minister said, The I-T officials had carried out searches in my room as well as in rooms of other congress cadre."
The raids were meant to curb election related malpractices, government sources said.
Two assembly constituencies in Karnataka Chincholi and Kundgol are going to poll on May 19 and the counting would take place simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections.
The team seized gold utensils, party caps and photograph of former MLA of Kundgol C S Shivalli, whose widow Kusumavathi is contesting election, from a room where congress worker Shivakumar Chandrashekhar Gokavi was staying, government sources said.
Subsequently, a police complaint was lodged against Gokavi about the violation of the Model Code of Conduct, they said.
Chincholi is going for by polls as the sitting Congress MLA Dr Umesh Jadhav resigned from the assembly to join BJP and contest the Lok Sabha election from Gulbarga on BJP ticket against Congress stalwart Mallikarjun Kharge.
The BJP has given ticket to Jadhav's son Avinash to contest from Chincholi who would have a direct fight with Congress candidate Subhash Rathod.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
