A politician involved in the real estate business in Karnataka has been arrested for defaulting tax of Rs 5.4 crore, the income tax department said here Wednesday.
The politician, who was arrested recently, had contested the May 2018 assembly election on a prominent political party's ticket, it said.
Without revealing his identity, the department said in a release that it carried out searches and seizures at various places, during which he admitted to defaulting on taxes of Rs 5.4 crore.
The department said it made several attempts to recover the tax by issuing notices and recovery proceedings.
The politician was involved in various land transactions as reflected from the affidavit filed by him during elections. Yet he did not use the transaction to clear the tax dues.
Subsequently, various prosecution proceedings were initiated before the Economic Offences Court. However, he did not pay anything, the release said.
A final notice was issued but he did not pay up, compelling the income tax officials to arrest him with the help of city police, it said.