Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru (DC)

Bengaluru, Jul 25: In a big twist to Bowring Club locker case, some reports claim that the huge haul of valuables amounting to nearly Rs 550 crore found in the locker, belongs to former chief minister and BJP senior leader Jagadish Shettar.

According to some reports, businessman Avinash Amarlal, who was a member of the club, was running a finance company jointly with Jagadish Shettar.

Reports say that since the name of BJP leader is involved in the case, anytime the leader would be questioned by the IT officials.

It may be recalled that the Income tax officials unearthed huge amount of illegal wealth and black money stashed away inside the lockers of Bowring Club here recently. The recovery was made from the lockers of the badminton court belonging to the prestigious Bowring Institute Club. The recovery included Rs 3.9 crore in cash made up of Rs 2000 currency notes, gold ornaments, diamond ornaments and gold biscuits worth Rs 8.20 crore, high value wrist watches, property documents worth over Rs 550 crore, and signed cheques worth hundreds of crore of rupees.

It is said that secretary of the club, Shrikanth, had tipped the income tax and enforcement directorate officials about huge wealth having been hoarded in the lockers. Bowring Institute located on St Marks Road, which is over 150 years old, has over 5,100 members. When the officials came to the club at 11.30 am on July 20, its secretary, Shrikanth, said that being a responsible citizen of the country, he had conveyed information to the government in discharge of his duty.

Shrikanth said that he never knew anything about the value of the documents inside the lockers. He stated that he got suspicion when the concerned began to offer him lures and also gave hint about the value of things kept inside in an effort to claim contents of the lockers. He added that the decision to break open the lockers was made with the clear intention of ensuring that only the true owners get the contents of the lockers.