Income tax authorities conducted searches at 25 premises linked to former external affairs minister S M Krishna business man son-in-law V G Siddharth on Thursday.

The IT department sources said the searches carried out at premises in Bengaluru, Hassan, Chikmagaluru, Chennai and Mumbai. The search operation also carried out at offices of the Cafe Coffee Day, the Serai resorts, real estate firms owned by Krishna’s son-in-law , the sources added.

Krishna’s son-in-law Siddharth

The former external affairs minister and Karnataka chief minister left the Congress party and joined the BJP earlier this year in what some Congress leaders claimed an attempt to protect his son-in-law’s businesses from targeted by tax and other authorities. Krishna’s son-in-law Siddharth has investments in wide range of sectors in India and abroad.

Last month tax authorities had conducted searches on Karnataka minister and Congress leader D K Shivakumar who is a political protege of S M Krishna.

In the searches conducted on Thursday the IT department also scrutinized a close associate of Shivakumar with links to Krishna’s son-in-law. The searches at properties linked to Shivakumar last month unearthed undisclosed income to the tune of Rs 300 crore, the income tax department said.