Income Tax dept grills Revanth Reddy for seven hours

Income Tax (I-T) department officials grilled Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee working president A Revanth Reddy for almost seven hours in connection with the alleged evasion of taxes. Unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs 1.57 crore and a few documents were seized during the simultaneous raids conducted in the houses of Reddy and others associated with him. Minutes after Reddy returned home on Road No. 44 in Jubilee Hills late on Thursday evening from his election campaign in Kodangal, senior officials from the I-T department questioned him for three hours. The officials, who had swooped down at Reddy’s house on Thursday morning following a complaint of evasion of tax, had conducted searches at 16 premises including the houses of Reddy, his relatives and companies related to him in Hyderabad and other outstation areas.

Another team of I-T authorities resumed the questioning on Friday morning and continued for over five hours. “We have questioned Reddy for seven hours since Thursday night and collected information related to his business transactions and his companies,” an IT official said. The simultaneous searches that were conducted at Reddy’s house, his relatives and aides enabled the department to



seize over Rs 1.57 crore of unaccounted cash and a few documents. While Rs.1.45 crore of unaccounted cash was recovered from one of the aides of Reddy in the city, a sum of Rs 12 lakh was seized from his uncle’s house. Gold jewellery weighing 500 grams were also found.

The preliminary verification of the documents seized by the department is learned to have led to the detection of a business transaction of Rs10 crore carried out by Sri Sai Mourya Estates and Projects Private Limited in which tax violations were found. Reddy is reportedly one of the directors of the firm. A team of officials also visited a bank along with Reddy’s wife Geeta to assess the gold jewellery kept in a locker. The assistance of evaluators were also taken to know the value of the gold. The officials are also reportedly planning to verify some alleged hawala dealings in which Reddy is said to have been involved in.

Meanwhile, a team of officials from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) here on Friday visited Congress leader A Revanth Reddy’s house in Jubilee Hills and seized a computer. Officials are hopeful of getting some vital information once the data is retrieved from the computer, sources said.