Besides Congress candidate K Laxma Reddy, searches are on in the properties of Chigurintha Parijata Narasimha Reddy, and V Laxma Reddy.
According to sources, the searches are being carried out in connection with alleged tax evasion. (iStock)
Officials of the Income Tax Department searched the properties of three politicians ahead of the Assembly elections in Telangana on Thursday, 2 November.
Searches were being carried out at the properties of K Laxma Reddy, Chigurintha Parijata Narasimha Reddy, and V Laxma Reddy in the suburbs of Hyderabad city.
While K Laxma Reddy is the Congress candidate from the Maheswaram Assembly constituency, Badangpet Municipal Corporation Mayor Narasimha Reddy had sought a Congress ticket from the same segment.
According to news agency PTI, Election Commission officials were also part of the searches at Laxma Reddy’s property.
BRS leader V Laxma Reddy won the famed Balapur Ganesh laddu this year with a bid of ₹24.60 lakh. The I-T sleuths conducted simultaneous searches at his house and farmhouse in Shamshabad.
Accompanied by CRPF personnel, the officials searched the premises of politicians in connection with alleged irregularities in payment of taxes. They were verifying the documents to know irregularities in tax payments.
On 21 October, the I-T Department reportedly questioned AMR Group Chairman Mahesh Reddy in connection with the seizure of ₹3.5 crore by the city police during a surprise check conducted as part of the election bandobust duty at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad.
After seizing the cash, officials from the I-T and special cell of the Election Commission of India (ECI) searched over a dozen places to zero in on the source of the money.
Sources said the money was brought from a neighbouring state for funding the election campaign of a particular political party. They said Mahesh Reddy was questioned to know the source and destination of the seized cash.
After the Model Code of Conduct came into effect, the police intensified surveillance at several strategic locations and started checking vehicles and persons moving under suspicious circumstances.
Five days before the AMR Group episode, the I-T Department searched some government contractors, real estate developers, and their associates on 12 October.
Around 55 premises were searched in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and New Delhi. Unaccounted cash and jewellery worth crores were seized, besides incriminating evidence.
The modus operandi of tax evasion detected indicated that the contractors inflated their expenses by booking bogus purchases, non-genuine claims of expenses with sub-contractors, and claiming ineligible expenses.
(With PTI inputs)
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