Karnataka energy minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar on Thursday declared assets worth over Rs 600 crore while filing his nomination from the Kanakapura constituency in Ramanagara district, PTI reported. He declared personal wealth of Rs 619.79 crore, which is an increase of 188% since the 2013 Assembly elections when he had declared Rs 215.06 crore.
Shivakumar has described himself as an educationist and social worker in the nomination papers, and said that his wife, a housewife and a landlord, has assets worth Rs 112 crore. In 2013 elections, his wife had declared Rs 35 crore worth assets.
Moreover, he said his daughter Aisshwarya owns assets worth Rs 108 crore, The News Minute reported. In 2013, she had assets worth only Rs 1.09 crore. The minister said while his daughter was not dependent on his income, he was still declaring her assets as per the Representation of People Act.
In August, the Income Tax Department had raided the properties of Shivakumar in Bengaluru, Kanakapura, Mysuru and New Delhi in a case of tax evasion.
During the raids, investigators are believed to have recovered more than Rs 300 crore in undisclosed income and cash and jewellery worth nearly Rs 15 crore, unidentified officials in the department had said in August.
Shivakumar was hosting several Gujarat Congress MLAs at a Bengaluru resort at the time of the raids. The Congress had sent them to the lodge allegedly to stop them from being poached by the Bharatiya Janata Party before the Rajya Sabha polls held on August 8.
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