The I-T teams from Mumbai are said to have uncovered unaccounted for transactions worth several thousand crores.
Even as real estate prices saw a dip across the country, Hyderabad bucked the trend. (Wikimedia Commons)
Sleepless nights, days with the mobile phones in switch-off mode, urgent visits to hospitals, and even getting admitted at the mere whiff of trouble.
This was how the week that went by was for politicians and their business friends in Hyderabad in the face of intense raids by Income Tax (I-T) sleuths who hopped from one office to another, seizing hundreds of property documents valued at multiple thousands of crores.
With adequate cover provided by personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force, special income tax teams from Mumbai worked overtime. including late Sunday night, poring over documents — even as one team kept a hawk’s eye on the suspects, picking them up from such unusual places as cricket grounds.
What started with the first raid on one of the big real estate firms, Sumadhura, led to a link that even income tax officials had not imagined initially. The search soon covered the Vasavi group, moved on to Phoenix, and then to what is seen as its front, Sreenidhi.
If the initial information flowing out is to be believed, unaccounted for transactions totaled a few thousands of crores at each of these firms. The final figure, though, is yet to be arrived at as it would be possible only after complex calculations are completed.
The modus operandi adopted by the firms is said to be no different from the age-old script – fake and common directors, some of whom are low-paid employees at the respective companies, making it rather easy for the income tax sleuths to find the loopholes.
Whether any cash was seized is not known, but the fines that are likely to be imposed on each of the firms is expected to be quite high, considering the large number of transactions that were not reflected in the books.
Interestingly, at least a couple of the firms that were raided were almost on the verge of bankruptcy before witnessing a meteoric rise, quite literally, by announcing some of the tallest residential and commercial projects in the western part of Hyderabad, popularly known as the IT corridor, even as they acquired hundreds of acres around the capital.
Most of the dubious or questionable transactions are said to have taken place during the first and second phases of Covid, beginning mid-2020. As health personnel and people battled to deal with the epidemic, realtors were said to have fast-tracked acquisition of large parcels of land and the clearances required for execution of projects.
This would not have been possible without the tacit support of some in the establishment is what the agencies suspect, though it’s not known if they were able to connect the dots.
The hype that was created — Hyderabad is the only city in the country where the real estate sector has seen a rise in price and volume despite Covid — clouded what went on behind the scenes.
According to sources, the current raids are just the beginning and it is more than likely that some more firms will come on the I-T radar in the days and months to come.
How the raids will impact the real estate market is not yet clear. Will it lead to significant delays in the execution of ongoing projects? What will be the fate of those who booked flats in dubious “pre-launch offers”?
We will have answers in the coming days and months.
Apr 26, 2024
Apr 26, 2024
Apr 26, 2024
Apr 26, 2024
Apr 25, 2024
Apr 25, 2024
