Hassan (K’taka)(PTI): Income Tax officials on Saturday conducted searches at the Hassan District Cooperative Central Bank, which has JD(S) leaders on its board, just days after the schedule for Assembly polls in Karnataka was announced, sources said.

The Model Code of Conduct came into effect in the state on March 29 when the Election Commission put out the dates for the polls.

Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s grandson and former state minister H D Revanna’s son Suraj Revanna,who is also the JD(S) MLC, JD(S) MLA C N Balakrishna and former JD(S) MLC Patel Shivaram are among the directors of the cooperative bank, the HDCC website shows.

Sources said the IT officials are checking the files since Friday and continued their operation on Saturday. They also seized some documents.

There was deployment of police at the bank and no person other than bank authorities were allowed to enter the premises, sources added.

Neither the bank officials nor the IT sleuths were available for comment.