Special teams of the I-T department conducted searches at more than 50 locations in Hyderabad and its suburbs.
Income Tax Department office in Hyderabad. (Official Website)
The Income Tax (I-T) Department sleuths who carried out raids since early Wednesday, 14 June, at the offices and residences of two BRS MLAs and one MP reportedly found “irregularities” in the payment of taxes.
They found irregularities after verifying documents and information in laptops and computers during the raids that were conducted at more than 50 locations in Hyderabad and its suburbs. Cash was also seized during searches.
The sleuths raided the residences of BRS MLAs Pailla Sekhar Reddy and Marri Janardhan Reddy, at Kothapet near LB Nagar and at Road No.36 in Jubilee Hills, respectively.
They also conducted searches at MP Kotha Prabhakar Reddy’s house in Kondapur.
While Sekhar Reddy is an MLA from the Bhongir Assembly constituency, Janardhan Reddy was elected from the Nagarkurnool constituency. Prabhakar Reddy is a Lok Sabha member from the Medak constituency.
Accompanied by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, the I-T officials conducted searches amidst tight security. The raids continued into the evening.
The department reportedly found that the two MLAs and the MP were maintaining irregular financial transactions in the business.
Sekhar Reddy’s wife and Prabhakar Reddy’s wife were working as directors in a company associated with digital technologies.
Janardhan Reddy is the director of a popular garments chain, while Sekhar Reddy is into real estate and infra business.
Local reports suggested that I-T searches were also conducted at some of the shopping outlets belonging to Janardhan Reddy.
Even as the I-T Department was searching the premises of the two MLAs and the MP, a few more teams carried out simultaneous raids on a couple of real-estate companies and swanky malls.
Responding to the I-T raids, Prabhakar Reddy told reporters in Dubakka in the Medak district that the raids were politically motivated.
“My daughter and other family members welcomed the I-T officials when they came for searches, and guided them through the house,” he said.
Stating that he conducted all business transactions in a transparent manner and owned only an MNC, Prabhakar Reddy clarified that he paid all the taxes — including I-T and GST — adhering to the norms prescribed by the government. He said the raids were aimed at tarnishing his image.
A few weeks ago, I-T officials carried out searches at popular cloth stores in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in connection with the alleged anomalies in the returns filed by their management.
Separate teams of the I-T Department conducted simultaneous searches at 20 locations, including the cloth stores Varamahalakshmi, Kancheepuram, and KLM.
Similar raids were also conducted in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.
During these searches, the sleuths seized crucial documents, computers, and laptops for a detailed examination to verify balance sheets.
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