, who was considered his close associate.
ED personnel also searched the houses, offices, and commercial properties of the Minister's close friends and associates Girish Sonwalkar, Raju Daragasheety, and Vithal Parasannavar.
Dr. Sonwalkar is a native of Mudalagi village near Gokak. He is a professor in Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences. Mr. Daragasheety and Mr. Parasannavar are Gokak-based businessmen. The raids began on September 9, and continued on September 10.
Searches were conducted in the houses of Malagouda Patil , personal assistant to the minister and Preeti kakatkar, personal assistant to Mr Manjunath.
Both, Mr Patil and Ms Kakatkar are private individuals and not government employees.
Speculation is rife among official circles that the minister 's family 's alleged Investment in the mining sector, in the African nation of Rwanda has attracted the attention of the central authorities.
High Commissioner of Rwanda to India, Jacqueline Mukangira visited Belagavi in 2024 September . She went around the Suvarna vidhana soudha, some government offices and the Belagavi sugars factory, operated by the Jarkiholi family. ( Attn desk pic in Nica)
Satish Jarkiholi told reporters during that visit that he was starting a school in Rwanda.
Meanwhile, Congres members held protests in Belagavi and Yamakanamaradi, condemning the raids, that they described as 'politically motivated'.
Protestors raised slogans against the union government and alleged that the BJP was misusing the central agencies to suppress opposition leaders.
In Belagavi, Ayesha Sanadi, Congress leader, said that the BJP was unnecessarily harassing Satish Jarkiholi, who had done no wrong. Sagar Kamble, said that the whole party stood strongly behind the minister and expressed hope that he would come out clean at the end.
A group led by Mallikarjun Talwar and Basavaraj Nayak protested in Yamakanamaradi.
