They found nothing, says Congress poll firm on I-T raids

Political campaign management firm DesignBoxed, which works with the D K Shivakumar-led Congress in Bengaluru, said Saturday that I-T sleuths “found absolutely nothing” in their raids on its offices.

The firm was raided by the I-T department earlier this week.

In a statement, DesignBoxed founder Naresh Arora said “no unaccounted valuables of any kind” were found during the I-T raids, which he charged was political.

Also read: I-T Department detects Rs 750 crore undisclosed income after raids on Bengaluru contractors

“The raids were obviously so political. They targeted me and my colleagues only because we have been working for the opposition and mainly Congress party,” Arora said.

DesignBoxed has worked with Congress since 2016 in six states -- Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Assam.

Earlier this year, Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar green-lit the onboarding of DesignBoxed to help the party boost its image for the 2023 Assembly polls.

“Apart from trying to find anything remotely incriminatory against top Congress leaders, the raids were intended to intimidate a self-made professional and political campaign management firm so that we don’t work for India’s main opposition party,” Arora said, adding that he and his colleagues are “law-abiding” and “proud tax payers”.

Blaming the ruling BJP, Arora said: “It is unfortunate that even after being so powerful the ruling dispensation needs to intimidate those working with the opposition.”

The raids were “an outright abuse of tax agencies for political aims” and “the harassment we have suffered is not ours alone,” Arora said. “It is part of the process of stifling the opposition through state power.”

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