IT searches continue at Telangana minister's institutions

Hyderabad, Nov 24 (IANS) The searches by the Income Tax department at the properties of Telangana labour and employment minister Malla Reddy and his family members continued for a third consecutive day on Thursday.

Simultaneous searches were on at Malla Reddy university, medical and dental colleges and at the residence of the minister's brother Praveen Reddy.

The IT sleuths completed searches at the houses of Malla Reddy, his sons and son-in-law. Searches were also completed at the house of Trishul Reddy, another relative of Malla Reddy and director of Malla Reddy Engineering College.

As many as 65 teams, said to be comprising over 200 IT officials, carried out searches at the institutions run by Malla Reddy group and houses and offices of the minister and his family members at various places in Hyderabad and Medchal Malkajgiri district since Tuesday morning.

There was high drama during searches late Wednesday night. The minister lodged a protest against the alleged highhandedness of the IT officials and the CRPF personnel.

Both the IT officials and the minister lodged police complaints against each other. Malla Reddy's younger son Bhadra Reddy lodged a complaint with Bowenpalli police station that his brother Mahender Reddy was attacked and forced to sign some papers.

An official of the IT department also lodged a complaint at the same police station. He alleged that Malla Reddy entered into an argument with IT officials and snatched a laptop, phone and documents from them.

The laptop was later found near the police station. It was allegedly dumped there by Malla Reddy's followers.

The searches during the last three days reported to have yielded seizure of Rs 8 crore unaccounted cash and some important documents.

According to sources, raids were conducted for alleged tax evasion by different institutions run by Malla Reddy. There are also allegations of inappropriate allocation of convener quota seats in Malla Reddy medical, pharmacy and engineering colleges. The IT officials were investigating the bank accounts used for the transactions of these seats.

Malla Reddy, who owns Malla Reddy University and runs several professional colleges, has also reportedly made investments in malls, petrol pumps and purchased lands at several places.