Karnataka: After facing flak for flaunting 'Rs 70 lakh diamond-studded Hublot watch', Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday cleared all controversy by claiming that he has stopped wearing the watch and agreed to declare it as a state asset.
Siddaramaiah revealed that the expensive watch was gifted to him by his close friend (NRI) Gopal Pillai Girish Chandra Verma who visited India last July.
"The full name of the person who gifted this invaluable watch is Gopal Pillai Girish Chandra Verma. He had come to India in July last year. I know him since 1983 and whenever he visits India, he meets me," the Chief Minister said.
Siddaramaiah further clarified, "Verma gifted me the watch, even though I was not keen on accepting it. However, he insisted that I accept it and I accepted because of our long friendship but I did not know how expensive it was."
Rubbishing reports that the watch costs around 70 lakhs, Siddaramaiah claimed that he received the gift in July and it's actual cost apparently seems to be 75,000 Dirham (Rs 14,0,5757.82). "I will furnish relevant documents of the watch to the Lokayukta and Income Tax. I will also pay gift tax too," he added.
He said, "I wore the watch only for a month. I stopped wearing the watch in November. This became an issue and I have this much to say that I will be declaring it as the state asset and deposit it with state secretariat."
"I have not declared it (watch) to the concerned agencies but will do it by March end for the income tax purpose. I always lived a simple life and try to maintain political integrity," he added.
In India there no separate Gift Tax Act but if someone receive a gift it could be included as a gross total income and is taxable under Indian law.
The matter became a political issue after Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy criticised the Chief Minister for wearing the expensive timepiece before the media.
State BJP President and MP Prahalad Joshi had sought a probe by the Enforcement Directorate to find out the owner of the watch and whether customs duty had been paid for it.
A complaint had been filed by city-based activist S Bhaskaran with the state Lokayukta seeking Siddaramaiah's prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting the expensive gift and not declaring it before appropriate authorities.
Reacting to Siddaramaiah's announcement, Congress MLC V S Ugrappa, who had yesterday suggested three options including declaring the watch as a state asset, welcomed it.
(With additional inputs from PTI)
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