Bengaluru : The income tax (I-T) officials continued raids on properties owned by former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara and former union minister R L Jalappa, both from Congress, in connection with a multi-crore tax evasion case linked to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) held for MBBS/BDS admissions this year.

A total of 30 premises were raided by a team of around 150 I-T officials at various locations in Bengaluru, Tumakuru, Nelamangala (Bengaluru Rurral), Kolar and Chikkaballapura districts and some places in Rajasthan on The, official sources said. The searches continued on Friday in another ten Korean properties belonging to Congress leaders and their associates.

The total cash seized so far stands now at Rs 4.52 crore

One of the I-T officers was also spotted conducting morning prayers at Parneshwara’s residence in Tumakuru prior to the continuation of the raids.

I-T official sources said that preliminary investigation has revealed that several more private medical colleges could also be employing unscrupulous ways to hoodwink the system to make the fast buck.

A senior I-T official, who has been monitoring these raids said they have found 168 out of 300 medical seats allotted under management quota by the three private medical colleges (which are deemed universities), were blocked and later sold to the students, who secured low ranks. These seats were allegedly sold at a minimum price of Rs 50 lakh per seat while the actual fee for these seats is only about Rs 6 lakh.