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Police to suspend probe in money seizure case at Soudha

Income Tax officials obtain statements from advocate, 2 others
Last Updated 24 October 2016, 20:14 IST

The city police have decided not to probe further into the seizure of Rs 1.97 crore from an advocate at the Vidhana Soudha on Monday.

The Vidhana Soudha police had deposited the cash, recovered from advocate Siddhartha H M, in the court as he had failed to provide documents on the source of the money. The Karnataka Bar Council has stated that it will decide on the action against the advocate based on the police report.

A senior police official said that the advocate’s versions regarding the source of the money were unconvincing.

“His claim that he received money from various clients has not been supported with documents. The police cannot continue investigation in the case, since except for the unaccounted money, there is no other offence involved. A case was registered under Section 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code regarding seizure of the money. However, Siddhartha has not been booked for any offence. The money has been deposited in the court and he will have to claim the money in the court by furnishing proper documents,” Additional Commissioner of Police (West) K S R Charan Reddy said.

Siddhartha, who has an office at High Point building at Basaveshwara Circle, was caught with the cash while he was trying to enter the Vidhana Soudha through the west gate on Friday. He had claimed that he received the money from four clients and was carrying it to buy a property.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Bar Council chairman C M Jagadish has demanded a CBI enquiry into the cash seizure.

“Since the cash was being carried into the Vidhana Soudha, a high-level investigation must be ordered. There is a suspicion that the money was being transported to be given to some influential person. The state government should hand over the case to CBI for an impartial enquiry,” Jagadish said. He said that the Bar Council would hold an enquiry against the advocate after a probe by investigating agencies.

Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department officers obtained statements from Siddhartha, realtor Gaffar and his friend Rajappa. The officers had served notices on the trio to appear before them on Monday. The trio have made contradictory statements. Gaffar did not disclose the source of the money, while Rajappa sought time to provide documents.

Siddartha told the officers that he was carrying the money as he wanted to buy an office space at High Point building.

As per Bar Council register, Siddhartha was enrolled as an advocate in 2005 and had provided a residential address at National Games Housing Complex in Koramangala.

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(Published 24 October 2016, 20:14 IST)

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