Land records found in raids on Kiran Reddy ‘friend’

Hyderabad: The income-tax department is believed to have found a large number of documents relating to purchase of land in Bengaluru in the recent raids on the companies of city businessman Mr Amarender Reddy. Mr Amarender Reddy is close to former chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy. The I-T raids took place a few days after Mr Kiran floated his own political outfit, Jai Samaikyandhra Party.

Enquiries by this newspaper revealed that the taxmen are looking into three major areas of investments, purchase of property, picking up equity in other companies, and fund flow from and to foreign companies, in particular those based in tax havens. Sources said that the I-T’s investigation wing from its Delhi headquarters instigated the raids which caught local officials by surprise. The department is giving top priority to the probe into financial transactions of Mr Kiran and his firms like Net Net Ventures.

Net Net Ventures hit the headlines following allegations that the former chief minister had got the bid price for HMDA’s prime property in Nandagiri Hills reduced in auction. The company then tried its best to exchange a piece of land with the state women and child welfare department to gain direct access to Jubilee Hills Road No. 46.

Former minister D.L. Ravindra Reddy was the first to raise questions about Net Net, but other parties like the TRS also sought a thorough probe into the auction. Sources said the I-T sleuths found evidence of transactions involving foreign financial institutions and are verifying if any hawala or proxy transactions were involved.

The department is also looking for signs of recent changes in the equity structures of group companies and subsidiary firms.