Only Rs 6.78 lakh recovered by CBI from our premises during searches: Shivakumar, brother
Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar and his brother D K Suresh on Tuesday claimed that only Rs 6.78 lakh was recovered from their residences by the CBI, a day after the central agency said searches at their premises and others led to the seizure of Rs 57 lakh cash.
Suresh, also the Congress MP from Bengaluru Rural, even asked the investigating agency to clarify the remaining Rs 50.22 lakhs, saying "it was not found and accounted for in our premises".
The CBI on Monday conducted searches at 14 locations linked to Shivakumar, in Karnataka, Delhi, and Mumbai, in connection with the allegations of possession of disproportionate assets.
It said the searches at the premises of Shivakumar and others led to the recovery of cash of Rs 57 lakh (approx) and several incriminating documents, including property documents, bank related information, and computer hard disk.
"I also would like to clarify that the CBI has accounted for total cash of Rs. 6.78 lakhs between my brothers and my premises," Suresh said.
"In my Delhi residence cash of Rs 1.57 lakh, my brother's residence in Bengaluru cash of Rs 1.71 Lakh, his home office in Bengaluru cash of Rs 3.5 lakh was accounted for," he said, in a series of tweets.
Suresh added that no cash was shown as seized from the residence of him here and his brother's in Delhi.
Later in the day, Shivakumar told reporters that officials have not taken anything from his mother's place, while some papers have been taken from their Delhi residences and certain documents from his co-brother Shashi Kumar's place.
"I'm also told Rs 50 lakh has been recovered from my friend Sachin Narayan, who is into liquor and hotel business. He was not able to deposit the money in the bank because of Sunday. I have not been able to talk to him yet," he said.
Stating that he was ready to release the 'panchnama' (a written record) of what was recovered from his premises, Shivakumar said, "people like us who are in politics, cannot keep things in secrecy".
"This is a raid on me and my house, it's an FIR on me, none of their (friends and family) names are in it, I'm not sure if there are separate cases registered against them," he added.
On Monday itself, while responding to the CBI's claim of Rs 57 lakh cash recovery, Shivakumar had he was answerable only to what was in the house.
Responding to a question regarding reports that one of his personal assistants was allegedly hit by officials during the searches, Shivakumar said, he has been informed about it but added he will speak on the matter only after properly inquiring into.
"I will check it up properly, because my PA was weeping...as I did not want anything untoward like what happened with Ramesh, PA to former Deputy CM Parameshwara, (who committed suicide after IT raids on properties linked to his boss last year). So I did not take it up in a hurry in front of others... I was quiet, I will talk to him," the KPCC chief said.
However, his brother Suresh complimented the CBI officials for their "professional conduct" during the searches at his premises and that of his brother "without any harassment".
Responding to a question, Shivakumar said he has not received any summons yet. "They may issue one."
Shivakumar had on Monday termed the CBI searches as "politically motivated" and said he would not bow down to "conspiracies or pressure tactics to shut him up".
He was arrested on September 23 last year by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case and was lodged in the Tihar Jail in Delhi in judicial custody before being released a month later on bail granted by the Delhi High Court.
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SC to hear today NGO's plea for release of voter turnout data for LS polls within 48 hours
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to grant an urgent hearing on a plea by an NGO seeking a direction to the Election Commission to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of conclusion of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the counsel appearing for the Election Commission (EC) to take instructions and said it will hear the matter at the end of the board.
The matter was mentioned by advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), seeking urgent listing of the petition.
Last week, the NGO filed an interim application in its 2019 PIL seeking directions to the poll panel that "scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)" of all polling stations be uploaded immediately after the polls.
"Direct the Election Commission to provide tabulated polling station-wise data in absolute figures of the number of votes polled as recorded in Form 17C Part- I after each phase of polling in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections and also a tabulation of constituency-wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections," the NGO said.
It said the plea was filed to ensure that the democratic process is not subverted by electoral irregularities.
"The voter turnout data for the first two phases of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections published by ECI on April 30 has been published after 11 days of the first phase of polling... on April 19 and four days after second phase of polling... on April 26.
"The data, as published by the ECI in its press release dated April 30, 2024 shows a sharp increase (by about 5-6 per cent) as compared to the initial percentages announced by ECI as of 7 pm on the day of polling," the plea said.
The petition said the "inordinate" delay in the release of final voter turnout data, coupled with the unusually high revision of over 5 per cent in the poll panel's press note of April 30, 2024 has raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the correctness of the said data.
The non-release of the absolute number of votes polled coupled with the "unreasonable delay" in the release of votes polled data has led to apprehensions in the mind of the electorate about the sharp increase between initial data and data released on April 30, it said.
"These apprehensions must be addressed and put to rest. That in order to uphold the voter's confidence it is necessary that the ECI be directed to disclose on its website scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part- I (Account of Votes Recorded) of all polling stations which contains the authenticated figures for votes polled, within 48 hours of the close of polling," it said.
