The income tax department raided on Wednesday a Karnataka minister who is in charge of hosting Congress legislators from Gujarat at a resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru, TV channels and news agencies reported.

The raids targeting Karnataka energy minister DK Shivakumar began around 7am, reports said. HT could not independently verify the charges against the minister.

Last week, the state Cabinet imposed a fine of Rs 998 crore on the ‘Eagleton – The Golf Village’ for allegedly encroaching on 77 acres of land.

The I-T department conducted searches at 39 locations related to Shivakumar, news agency PTI reported.

Officials also visited the resort where Shivakumar was staying with the Congress MLAs from Gujarat. But no searches were conducted on the resort, PTI reported.

Forty-one Congress legislators were taken to the resort near Bengaluru late last Friday after six of their colleagues quit the party, depleting the party’s numerical strength in the Gujarat assembly to 51 ahead of the Rajya Sabha

he revolt by Congress MLAs threatens to jeopardise senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel’s bid for a Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat. Patel, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, seemed to have the requisite numbers for now.

Read more | Congress parades 44 Gujarat MLAs, says BJP tried to bribe them ahead of Rajya Sabha polls

If the Congress keeps the flock together in Bengaluru, Patel will romp home with the assured support of two NCP MLAs and one rebel BJP legislator.

But the Congress has accused the ruling BJP of offering bribes and using police action to intimidate the legislators. The BJP has denied the charges.

After the I-T action, Congress leader Patel tweeted: