Raids were conducted on the properties of Khammam Member of Parliament (MP) Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy on Tuesday, by officials from the Income-Tax (I-T) Department.
According to reports, 18 teams from the department conducted searches across 15 of the MP's properties -- including his residences, offices and factories in Hyderabad, Khammam and Narayanapuram among other places in Khammam district over suspected tax evasion.
The MP is a successful businessman and members of his family own Raghava Infras Company, which has won tenders and bagged contracts for some of the biggest multi-crore projects in Telangana, including Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya.
“In total 15 places were raided including the office of subcontractors who bagged government contracts through the MP’s companies. The searches were carried out early Tuesday morning. No employees were available for questioning; they came in to the office towards evening, and the process of statement recording has thus been delayed,” sources told Deccan Chronicle.
The searches, which began at around 11 am, went on till late in the evening, and are expected to continue on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Srinivas Reddy’s associates reportedly stated that the I-T department was conducting a 'routine check' to see if there was a difference in I-T returns filed by the company and the actual incomes.
The MP, elected on a YSRCP ticket was considered close to party President YS Jaganmohan Reddy, but had later defected to the ruling TRS party in the state.
Srinivas played an important role in gathering a large number of people for the TRS’ ‘Pragati Nivedana Sabha’, held at the outskirts of Hyderabad before the Telangana Assembly was dissolved. In fact, he had personally flagged off 20,000 farmers from Khammam, who made their way to the meeting.
Srinivas also enjoys influence in the Singareni Collieries region and was one among many, who campaigned for the TRS-affiliated workers union, Telangana Boggu Ghani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS), along with Nizamabad MP K Kavitha.
The mines spread over several districts, employ thousands of local residents. In October last year, after days of campaigning, the TBGKS retained its hold in the largest public sector company in the state, winning nine out of 11 divisions in the elections.