ED continues raids on houses of PWD minister and associates in Karnataka
Home of PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi in Belagavi. | Photo credit: Special arrangement
On September 10, officers from the Enforcement Directorate continued to search the homes of PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi, his relatives and associates in Karnataka.
ED officials turned up at the homes of Satish Jarkiholi, his children Priyanka and Rahul and brother-in-law Y. Manjunath. Mr. Manjunath is a Joint Commissioner in the Excise Department. He is the son of former MP Y. Devendrappa. He is married to Mahadevi, sister of Satish Jarkiholi.
However, the ED officers did not visit the homes or offices of the minister’s brothers Ramesh Jarkiholi and Balachandra Jarkiholi, both BJP MLAs. There are no reports of searches at the houses of independent MLC Lakhan Jarkiholi or Bhimshi Jarkiholi, a businessman. Both are younger brothers of the minister.
Ramesh Jarkiholi’s premises were searched by the Income Tax department in 2017. Cops also searched the houses of Laxmi Hebbalkar, who was believed to be his close associate.
ED officials 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 Gokaku. He is a professor at Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences. Mr. Daragasheety and Mr. Parasannavar are businessmen from Gokaku. Airstrikes began on 9 September and continued on 10 September.
The searches were conducted at the homes of Malagouda Patil, the minister’s personal assistant, and Preeti kakatkar, Mr. Manjunath’s personal assistant. Both Mr. Patil and Ms. Kakatkar are private individuals and not government employees. Speculation is rife in official circles that the minister’s family’s alleged investment in the mining sector in Rwanda, Africa, has attracted the attention of central authorities. Rwanda High Commissioner to India Jacqueline Mukangira visited Belagavi in September 2024. She toured the Suvarna vidhana soudha, some government offices and the Belagavi sugar factory run by the Jarkiholi family. (Attn desk pic in Nica) Satish Jarkiholi told reporters during this visit that he is starting a school in Rwanda. Meanwhile, Congress members staged protests in Belagavi and Yamakanamaradi, condemning the raids, which they termed as “politically motivated”. The protesters raised slogans against the union government and alleged that the BJP was misusing central agencies to suppress opposition leaders. In Belagavi, Ayesha Sanadi, a Congress leader, said the BJP was unnecessarily harassing Satish Jarkiholi, who had done nothing wrong. Sagar Kamble said the entire party stands firmly behind the minister and expressed hope that he would eventually come clean.
A group led by Mallikarjun Talwar and Basavaraj Nayak protested in Yamakanamaradi.
Published – 10 Sep 2026 13:21 IST